LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 12-ranked UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team continues their tour of the American Southwest this weekend, as the Gauchos head to La Jolla for the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego Feb. 2-4. Drawn in Group A, the Gauchos are set to open the weekend with a Friday morning matchup against No. 10 Michigan, then face either Concordia or No. 1 USC on Saturday morning. The results of those and other games will determine UC Santa Barbara's remaining two opponents for the weekend.
 
Of the 11 teams outside of the Gauchos' group, only one is un-ranked (California Baptist), and three of them are ranked in the top three nationally. Santa Barbara's most likely opponents include No. 5 Fresno State, No. 6(T) UC Irvine and No. 11 Loyola Marymount.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
Friday morning's matchup with the Wolverines will take place at La Jolla High School's Coggan Family Aquatic Complex at 8 a.m., but the remaining matches on Saturday and Sunday will be held at UC San Diego's Canyonview Aquatic Center. Only matches featuring UC San Diego will have a live stream and live stats. A full bracket, results and more information can be found on the tournament homepage, here.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos earned a pair of wins against top-25 opponents at California Baptist's Joust last weekend, taking down then-No. 18 San Jose State, 10-9, and No. 25 Biola, 20-5. Annie Kuester starred at both ends of the pool for UC Santa Barbara, with seven goals and four assists in the attack plus five steals and two blocks on defense, all team highs on the weekend.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara again holds steady at No. 12 in this week's national rankings after improving their record to 5-1 last weekend. Their .833 winning percentage is tied for second in The Big West two weeks into the season, behind only undefeated No. 4 Hawai'i.
 
Juju Amaral continues to pace the Gauchos' offense and The Big West as a whole with 29 points on the year from a team-high 18 goals and a conference-best 11 assists. Kuester and Leigh Lyter are close behind with 14 goals each, and Christina Mullane has 11 assists of her own. In fact, Gauchos make up four of the five top assisters in The Big West so far, with Isabel Valaika's 10 being the second-most in the conference and Emily Ferguson's nine the third-most.
 
Defensively, Kuester's four field blocks and Lyter's conference-best 12 steals are the team highs, with Drew Halvorson second on the squad in both categories, with three and nine respectively. Madison Walker and Ava Donleavy continue to form a dynamic duo in goal for Santa Barbara, with Donleavy's .788 save percentage and 4.00 goals-against average both leading the conference. Walker's 34 saves are tied for second in The Big West.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Michigan has clearly been the best team in the Collegiate Water Polo Association through two weeks of the season, and the Wolverines come into Friday's game having won four in a row. They opened the season with three losses, but those were each against teams currently ranked in the top five, and only one of those was a real runaway margin — their 16-7 defeat to now-No. 2 California.
 
A trio of Wolverine attackers — leading scorer Kata Utassy, Sammi Monroe and rookie Emma Gustafsson — have carried the Michigan offense through two weeks, with center Libby Alsemgeest anchoring things. Alsemgeest has 11 goals and 28 drawn ejections through seven games. Utassy and Monroe have each earned CWPA weekly awards this season, with attacker Jillian Schlom coming in as the reigning CWPA Rookie of the Week.
 
In goal, the Wolverines have two-time CWPA Defensive Player of the Week Alex Brown, who comes in with 59 saves and a 9.26 goals-against average on the season.
 
The Gauchos have not beaten Michigan in their last 13 meetings, dating back to 2009.
 
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC was unanimously voted as the No. 1 team in the country this week, and they will arrive in La Jolla as defending Triton Invitational Champions. The Trojans are 2-0 in 2024, with both of their wins coming by double digits, 18-7 over San Diego State and 16-3 over Cal State Fullerton.
 
In the attack, USC's leading scorer is Ava Stryker (nine points), but she has mostly set up the goals for the Trojans, with a team-high seven assists through two games. Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea leads the Trojans with seven goals and is one of three players with seven points on the season.
 
USC rotated through goalies in each of their first two contests, with Carolyne Stern seeing the majority of the action. The Trojans are yet to concede a goal in the third quarter of a game this season.
 
USC is also yet to lose to UC Santa Barbara this century, with the Gauchos' last triumph over the Trojans coming all the way back in 1998.
 
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Concordia is one of just two unranked teams taking part in the Triton Invitational, and they are the only non-Division I program in the field. The Golden Eagles come in at 1-1 on the season with a win over La Verne and a loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps under their belts. Concordia will face Division I opposition for the first time this year on Friday when they take on No. 1 USC.
 
If the Golden Eagles are to pull the massive upset, expect Tamsyn Evezard, Sofia Dominguez and Andie Perreira to be involved. Those three are the team's top scorers coming into the weekend, with centers Evezard and Perreira first and second on the team with six and five goals, respectively. Dominguez leads the team with five assists and has a goal of her own.
 
At the other end of the pool, Jaden Soto was Concordia's primary goalkeeper on opening weekend, playing 56 of their 64 minutes in the cage. Samantha Rainey backed her up and posted a .600 save percentage in one quarter of action.
 
The Gauchos have never lost to Concordia.
 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will head to Arizona for their next tournament, paying a visit to Arizona State's ASU Invitational, Feb. 9-11. The Gauchos will open that tourney by facing the hosting Sun Devils on Feb. 9 at noon Pacific Time.