SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team rounded out their 2024 Winter Invitational with a pair of Top-25 matchups on Sunday. The Gauchos hung tough against No. 3 UCLA in the morning contest, but fell, 14-11. In the afternoon match, Santa Barbara's goalkeeping and defense shut down No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer en route to a 10-2 victory. Aidan Flynn led the Gauchos in scoring on the day, tallying three goals and an assist against the Bruins plus three assists against the Sagehens for a total of seven points.
 
FROM HEAD COACH SERELA KAY
"Again, (it was a) full team effort in both games," Kay said. "We had the opportunity to play around with some different defenses and to see and attack different defenses in both the games, which I think was a challenge at times. Any time you're forced to make a tactical change, it can be a challenge, so we'll definitely be focusing on team chemistry and growing the foundation that we started. But I am proud of the team and their energy and effort, everybody supporting each other. And it was great to have all the fans in the stands; it means a lot."
 
NO. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 11, NO. 3 UCLA 14
The Gauchos were only outscored in one of four quarters against the Bruins, and Santa Barbara flirted with a comeback in the final frame. Annie Kuester opened the scoring on the day, and the Gaucho defense held UCLA to just one goal of their own in the first quarter. Unfortunately, that Bruins' goal kicked off a first of two 4-0 scoring runs for UCLA, with the visitors leading, 4-1, at the halfway point of the second quarter. Imani Clemons then scored to cut the deficit, but the Bruins started their second 4-0 run of the day, and led, 6-2 at halftime.
 
After the Bruins stretched their lead to 8-2 in the third quarter, the Gauchos started to fight back, with Leigh Lyter sparking a strong period for Santa Barbara. Flynn scored less than a minute later, then Clemons scored her second of the day and Emily Ferguson joined the party with just under two minutes in the frame. However, UCLA struck back just before the buzzer to maintain their four-goal advantage.
 
Santa Barbara did manage to outscore the Bruins in the fourth quarter, tallying five goals to the visitors' four, but that was not enough to close the gap. Flynn completed her hat-trick right at the final buzzer. In goal for the Gauchos, Madison Walker tallied 11 saves, keeping her team in the game.
 
NO. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 10, NO. 25(T) POMONA-PITZER 2
In the final game of the weekend, Santa Barbara's defense and goalkeeper Ava Donleavy stole the show. The Santa Barbara City College transfer played the final three quarters against the Sagehens and allowed just one goal, making 13 saves.
 
Freshman Isabel Valaika opened the scoring, with Ferguson, Mary Beth Heffelfinger and Clemons also denting the twine in the first quarter, giving the Gauchos a 4-1 lead after eight minutes. Drew Halvorson made it 5-1 a couple minutes into the second quarter, but Pomona-Pitzer answered back quickly. However, it would be their last goal of the game. While Donleavy and the defense held Pomona-Pitzer scoreless for the final 21 minutes of game time, the Gaucho offense slowly pulled further and further away.
 
Kuester scored the last goal of the first half and the first goal of the second, going on to complete her hat-trick in the fourth quarter. Juju Amaral added a pair of second-half goals to help ice the game.
 
Walker had started the game in goal, making four saves in her eight minutes of action.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will head out on their first road trip of the season next weekend, traveling to Riverside for The Joust, hosted by California Baptist on Jan. 27. There, Santa Barbara will face No. 18(T) San Jose State at 9:30 a.m. and No. 25(T) Biola at 3:30 p.m.