RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team is set for their first road trip of the season on Saturday, as they will head to Riverside to take part in The Joust, hosted by California Baptist. The Gauchos will play a pair of matches, taking on No. 18 San Jose State Saturday morning, then facing No. 25 Biola Saturday afternoon.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
UC Santa Barbara's game against the Spartans is set to start at 9:30 a.m., with their afternoon matchup against the Eagles scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start time. All of Saturday's action will be hosted at the Lancer Aquatics Center in Riverside, where admission and parking will be free. For fans following from afar, live stats will be available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT            
The Gauchos opened their season by hosting their annual Winter Invitational last weekend, posting a 3-1 record in their four matches. Juju Amaral's 16 points (10 goals, six assists) helped Santa Barbara to cruise past Azusa Pacific and Whittier on the opening day, and Amaral finished the weekend with 13 goals, 10 assists and 23 points, the latter two stats both topping The Big West charts. The Gauchos fought hard against now-No. 2 UCLA but fell on Sunday, then wrapped up the weekend with a win over Pomona-Pitzer.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara holds steady at No. 12 in the national rankings after the first week of the season, making them the second-highest ranked team at The Joust, behind No. 10 UC San Diego. There is no one ahead of Juju Amaral on The Big West points leaderboard; the Santa Barbara High School grad tallied 23 at her old home pool over the weekend, including a conference-leading 10 assists. Her 13 goals rank second in the conference. Elsewhere on the conference leaderboards, Leigh Lyter's eight steals are the best in The Big West, as is Isabel Valaika's 5-2 record in sprints.
 
In goal, the Gauchos certainly seem spoiled for choice with both Madison Walker and Ava Donleavy putting on impressive performances in week one. Walker made 11 saves against UCLA on Sunday, and Donleavy shone against Pomona-Pitzer later that afternoon, making a career-high 13 stops in just 24 minutes of play.
 
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
San Jose State comes into the weekend with an 0-2 record after facing a pair of ranked opponents at then-No. 9 Fresno State's mini tournament on opening weekend. The Spartans dropped an 11-4 decision against then-No. 5 UC Irvine and fell to the hosting Bulldogs, who rocketed up to No. 5 in this week's rankings, 11-6. Despite the losses, San Jose State holds steady as the No. 18 team in the country.
 
Three Spartans are tied for the team lead with two goals apiece, and each of them posted two-goal performances last weekend. Defender Renee Fleming tallied a pair against UC Irvine, then utilities Darcy Spark and Ivanna Anderson-Villela each scored a pair against Fresno State. In goal, Grace Smith leads the team with eight saves; she split time with Zsofia Hadju in the cage last weekend. San Jose State also returns All-American defender Sinia Plotz, though she did not make an impact last weekend.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Biola opened their season in Long Beach last weekend, taking on a pair of top-25 opponents in Long Beach State and Brown. After a 20-6 defeat against the then-No. 7 Beach, Division II Eagles bounced back with a gritty, 11-10 win over then-No. 24 Brown, knocking the Bears out of this week's rankings. Graduate utility Maria Roldan Gonzalez played a key role in that win, making her third field block of the game on the defensive end before scoring the winning goal with seven seconds left. The Spaniard was named Western Water Polo Association Defensive Player of the Week for her heroics.
 
Another Eagle, junior attacker Veralie Naranjo, took home WWPA Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring five of the team's six goals in their clash with Long Beach State, all in the first half. Naranjo leads the team with six goals and seven points on the year, with Roldan Gonzalez and Lizzy Birch behind her with four points each.
 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will continue its tournament tour next weekend, heading to La Jolla for UC San Diego's Triton Invitational, Feb. 2-4. The Gauchos have been drawn in Group A, alongside No. 1 USC, No. 11 Michigan and Concordia Irvine. Santa Barbara's opening match of the weekend is set for 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 2 against Michigan. The result of that and other games will determine the Gauchos' following opponents and match times.