SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara women's water polo team enjoyed more remarkable late-game heroics on day three of the 2022 UCSB Winter Invite, winning its third straight game by a single goal to open the day against Brown University in overtime 14-13.
The Gauchos ended the tournament with a 4-2 record after falling to No. 3 UCLA 21-8 in the final game of the weekend.
UCSB vs. Brown (14-13 OT)
Goalscorers: Snyder (3), Munson (3), Kuester (3), Lyter (2), Owens (1), Kelly (1), Flynn (1)
Fresh off back-to-back wins on Saturday in which they trailed in the fourth quarter, the Gauchos would do it again on Sunday, this time against even more daunting odds.
Santa Barbara trailed 12-9 in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. Needing everything to go perfect in order to have a shot at sending it to overtime, the late comeback bid started when Nina Munson put away her third goal of the game with 1:38 on the clock.
The Gauchos got a stop, and after moving the ball around patiently, they got the shot they wanted from Annie Kuester to make it a 12-11 game with 31 seconds left. The Bears called a timeout and looked to play keepaway until time expired.
However, after the ball was put back in play, a swarming double-team sprint from Claire Kelly and Caitlyn Snyder forced the key takeaway, suddenly turning it into a 2-on-1. Kelly set up Snyder for the game-tying goal with 14 seconds, sending the game into overtime in dramatic fashion.
UCSB would trail once more in the first period of overtime, but Leigh Lyter provided another Gaucho equalizer on the following possession to make it 13-13. In the final minute of the game, the Gaucho counterattack put them in scoring position with Kelly drawing penalty leaving 55 seconds on the clock. It was Kuester who would do the honors, tying Snyder and Munson for a team-high with her third goal to put UCSB on top for good.
UCSB vs. UCLA (8-21)
Goalscorers: Lyter (2), Flynn (2), Munson (1), Halvorson (1), Clemons (1), Mras (1)
Facing their toughest opponent of the weekend Sunday evening, the Gaucho were led on offense by two-goal performances from Leigh Lyter and Aidan Flynn.
Munson, Drew Halvorson and Imani Clemons all scored in the first half, with Clemons' goal making it a 7-3 UCLA lead with 5:00 left before the break. However, the Bruins would close the second on a 5-0 run. They added two more to open the third, pushing the lead well out of reach.
Next Up
The Gauchos opened the year with a 4-1 record for the third time under head coach Serela Kay. Snyder leads the team with 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) through one week of play, followed by 12 points each from Lyter (10 goals) and Munson (9).
UCSB's next game will be against Biola on Friday at 1:00 p.m. at the Lancer Joust hosted by California Baptist University.
