IRVINE, Calif. — After a weekend off, the No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team will return to action this weekend at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, hosted by UC Irvine. The Gauchos' first matchup of the weekend will be against No. 4 Stanford on Friday at 3 p.m. They will then face either No. 5 USC or No. 13 Indiana Saturday morning and finish out the bracket with one more game Saturday and a final contest on Sunday. The tournament field includes each of the top eight teams in the most recent Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings and nine of the top 10.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The Barbara Kalbus Invitational will be held at two different pools, those of UC Irvine and nearby Corona Del Mar High School. Fans planning to attend any of this weekend's matches are required to purchase tickets online ahead of time, as there will not be any game-day ticket sales at either venue. The Gauchos and Cardinal are set to meet at Corona Del Mar High School on Friday, with a start time of 3 p.m. With a win, the Gauchos will return to Corona Del Mar High School for their two Saturday contests, while a loss would send them to UC Irvine on Saturday. Since results will determine the Gauchos' game times, locations and opponents, be sure to check ucsbgauchos.com and the team's social media channels for updates throughout the weekend. Live stats will be available through ucsbgauchos.com for all four of UC Santa Barbara's games, regardless of venue.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The last time the Gauchos were in action was at the ASU Invitational in Arizona, Feb. 9-11. They earned comfortable victories over Ottawa Arizona and Marist, but dropped matches to then-No. 7 Arizona State and San Jose State. The latter of those two defeats was a low-scoring one, with the Gauchos holding the Spartans to just five goals, the fewest UC Santa Barbara has allowed a Division I opponent since 2021.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
Following the graduation of the incomparable Caitlyn Snyder, the Gauchos have turned to Juju Amaral to spearhead their attack and the two-time Pan America Games medalist has delivered. Amaral leads Santa Barbara in both goals (24) and assists (16), though she has plenty of support around her. Drew Halvorson has already matched her highest assist total in a season with 15, and Leigh Lyter's 20 goals have her on pace to match or even surpass her highest single-season goal total (42).
 
Newcomers Christina Mullane and Isabel Valaika have added an extra layer to the Gauchos' offense, totaling 25 points each in their first seasons in Blue and Gold. Jojo Scheer, also a newcomer, has added crucial depth too, tallying 10 goals and seven assists.
 
Defensively, the Gauchos have put up some of the best numbers in The Big West. Halvorson's seven field blocks are the second-most in the conference, and Emily Ferguson is close behind with six. Annie Kuester has five. When it comes to steals, four of the top five thieves in the conference are Gauchos. Lyter leads the conference with 21, and Madison Walker ranks second with 20. Amaral is fourth (16), with Halvorson fifth (15). Ferguson makes the top 10 as well, ranking seventh (13).
 
The speedy Valaika also leads The Big West in sprint win percentage and total sprint wins, going 13-3.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Stanford are the reigning National Champions, and after a surprisingly slow start to 2024, they are showing why. The Cardinal dropped two of their first four matches of the season to then-No. 5 Hawai'i and then-No. 9 Fresno State, needing overtime to survive then-No. 5 UC Irvine as well. But since losing to the Bulldogs, Stanford has rattled off six straight victories, including an overtime win over then-No. 2 California. The Cardinal attack is led by a pair of "Soph's," Sophie Wallace (23 goals) and Sophia Sanders (19 goals), who have seven and six multi-goal games this season, respectively. Kamryn Barone (12 goals, 12 assists) is the third member of the 20-point club for Stanford so far and is the team's assist leader. In goal, Maya Avital is the first choice to defend the cage, having done so in seven of Stanford's nine games to the tune of 58 saves.
 
USC started the season as the number one team in the country but, like Stanford, took a tumble in the rankings after back-to-back defeats against Hawai'i and Fresno State. The Trojans bounced back with a win over UC Irvine in Irvine in their last match, and they will be favorites in their game against Indiana on Friday. Freshman Ava Stryker is the team's top points scorer with her 13 goals and 10 assists giving her a team-high 23 so far this season. After firing a hat-trick against the Anteaters, Stryker was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week. Rachel Gazzaniga is the only Trojan with more goals (14), and only Morgan Netherton has more assists (11). Carolyne Stern has been the first-choice goaltender, posting a 7.40 goals-against average in 160 minutes defending the cage.
 
Indiana comes into the weekend at 12-0, one of the few remaining unbeaten teams. The Hoosiers also are yet to play a game outside of the Eastern time zone, and the expectation will be for their unbeaten record to end against USC on Friday. However, no team with four 20-goal scorers at this point in the season can be underestimated, and that is exactly what Indiana has in Skylar Kidd (28), Sophia Sollie (24), Zoe Crouch (23) and Louisa Downes (20). Additionally, every one of those but Sollie has at double-digit assists to boot. Continuing the trend of gaudy numbers, Hoosier goalie Jasmine Higgs has 105 saves and a 7.85 goals-against average in 10 games.
 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will open Big West play after this weekend, heading north to take on No. 13 UC Davis on Saturday, March 2 at noon.