SANTA BARBARA, Calif. —  The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team returned home on Saturday, hosting No. 10 Long Beach State in what was the Gauchos' first Big West home game of the season. Four different Gauchos scored as the teams played a competitive first half, but the Beach pulled away in the second half to win, 10-4.

FROM HEAD COACH SERELA KAY
"I'm proud of the team," Kay said. "We stuck to our gameplan, we had matchups and matched up well, and we locked down. We're focusing on power plays, and we really locked down on our defense and we held them 1-for-11. Against a team like Long Beach, that's really strong in that area, I'm really proud of that, it's a big shining light. The fact that they scored five counter goals shows some mental lapses on our part, and it's something we need to work on." 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Long Beach State took a 2-0 lead early, but the Gauchos responded, with Cami Mras pulling Santa Barbara back within a goal in the final minute of the first quarter. The Gauchos continued to surge in the second quarter, with Annie Kuester denting the twine first to tie the game at two. After the Beach re-took the lead, Jojo Scheer responded within the minute, scoring to level the scores, 3-3. 

From there, Long Beach went on a 5-0 run which would prove decisive, though Juju Amaral did tally her 30th goal of the season to end the Gauchos' drought midway through the fourth quarter. Birthday girl Madison Walker was busy in the Santa Barbara goal, including facing two five-meter penalty shots. She did make eight saves on the day.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will take next weekend off for UC Santa Barbara's finals week, then hit the road again for a twin bill in Santa Clara on Wednesday, March 27. The Gauchos will face Santa Clara and West Valley College at Sullivan Aquatics Center that day, starting against the Broncos at noon before taking on the Vikings at 2:30 p.m. Santa Barbara's next home contest will be Friday, March 29 against UC Irvine.