SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team got their 2024 season underway with a pair of wins on the first day of the Winter Invitational Saturday, 16-8 over Azusa Pacific and 26-3 over Whittier. Juju Amaral led the way, tallying 10 goals and six assists on the day, the most in both categories for the Gauchos. Christina Mullane impressed in her first action in Blue and Gold as well, notching six goals on seven shots, plus two assists.
 
FROM HEAD COACH SERELA KAY
"I am proud of the energy and attitude kicking off the season today," Kay said. "It was a full team effort applying the technical and tactical skills we have worked on so far. We do have much room to grow as individuals and a team as a whole, but I have no doubt the improvement will be insurmountable if we continue to focus on the process. There are exciting times ahead."
 
NO. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 16, AZUSA PACIFIC 8
The Gauchos' first match of the day started bright and early at 8 a.m., but UC Santa Barbara was wide awake, racing out to a 3-0 lead inside the first two minutes. Annie Kuester scored the Gauchos' first goal of 2024, then Mullane and Amaral followed suit. Team captain Leigh Lyter added to the tally just after the three-minute mark before an Azusa Pacific goal late in the quarter put an end to Santa Barbara's scoring run.
 
The Gauchos out-scored the Cougars, 5-3, in both the second and third quarters, with Amaral completing her hat-trick just before halftime to stretch Santa Barbara's lead to 9-4 at the interval. After halftime, Lyter completed her hat-trick, scoring the first two goals of the third quarter to extend the Gaucho lead further.
 
Mullane marked her Gaucho debut with a hat-trick as well, converting on a five-meter penalty with just over two minutes left in the third for her third score of the game. Up 14-7 heading into the fourth and final quarter, all Santa Barbara had to do was see out the game. Lyter and Cami Mras provided the icing on the cake, putting home Gaucho goals numbers 15 and 16 in the final frame.
 
Madison Walker and Ava Donleavy split time in goal, with each keeper making five saves in the game.
 
NO. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 26, WHITTIER 3
In their afternoon fixture, the Gauchos nearly broke their 26-year-old program record for goals in a game (27). Santa Barbara dented the twine 26 times against Whittier, with ten different players scoring, including hat-tricks for Amaral, Lyter, Mullane, Imani Clemons and Aidan Flynn. Amaral led the scoring again, pulling a double hat-trick with six goals on seven shots. She added four assists for a 10-point game. Isabel Valaika had a four-assist game as well, her first four as a Gaucho. She also tallied her first career goals, with two of them. Jojo Scheer added her first goal and assist in Blue and Gold as well.
 
Santa Barbara led from basically start to finish, with Amaral opening the scoring 27 seconds in. Lyter doubled the Gauchos' advantage the next time down, then after giving up a goal, Santa Barbara went on an 8-0 run over the next eight minutes, putting themselves well in the clear. The home team held a 14-2 lead at halftime and only conceded once in the second half, just over a minute into the third quarter. Santa Barbara finished the game on an 11-0 run.

Walker made a second consecutive start in goal, with Logan Tiska taking the assignment for the second half. Walker posted four saves in her 16 minutes, with Tiska making six stops on her Gaucho debut.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will wrap up the 2024 Winter Invitational with two matches on Sunday, taking on No. 3 UCLA at 10:30 a.m. and No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer at 2:30 p.m. Admission to the games at Santa Barbara High School is free, and fans following from afar can find live stats at ucsbgauchos.com.