BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team got their Midwestern weekend trip off to a dream start on Saturday, winning their games against Carthage College and McKendree by a combined score of 42-2. Madison Walker and Ava Donleavy each allowed just one goal and made seven saves each in goal for the Gauchos, while Annie Kuester had a hat-trick in each game. Jojo Scheer, Zoe Gabriel and Juju Amaral also had three-goal games, with Amaral putting home four in a single contest.
 
FROM INTERIM HEAD COACH EMMA MYALL
"Today went really well," Myall said. "Everyone got to play, so the games today really helped our team chemistry build. Hadde Hall had a great day. She started as a center defender and really killed it, and another freshman, Morgan Hoffman, did a fantastic job in center. We're looking forward to tomorrow against Indiana!"
 
GAUCHOS 23, CARTHAGE 0
Santa Barbara was pretty much perfect in their first game of the day, scoring goals for fun and shutting out the Firebirds for their most lopsided win of the season so far. Scheer and Kuester scored three goals each in the game to lead the Gauchos, while seven more players — Isabel Valaika, Hadde Hall, Molly Souza, Christina Mullane, Loretta Hovey, Morgan Hoffman and Aidan Flynn — had two goals apiece. Bella Mady, Imani Clemons and Athena Wigo found the back of the net as well, while Amaral played conductor, orchestrating the offense with a team-high five assists. Donleavy also got two assists from her goalkeeper position; she split time in the cage with Walker. Donleavy made three stops in the first half, with Walker making four in the second.
 
The Gauchos had a 7-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, and they were up, 13-0, at the half. The Blue and Gold scored five goals each in the third and fourth quarters to finish off the 23-0 victory.
 
GAUCHOS 19, MCKENDREE 2
It was more of the same defensively to start game two, as Santa Barbara kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard until seconds before halftime, conceding from a five-meter penalty. Not that it much mattered, as the Gauchos had already but nine goals in the net by that time. Kuester and Amaral each had first-half hat-tricks against McKendree, with Clemons, Hall and Flynn scoring a goal each in the half as well.
 
The Bearcats scored first in the second half, but after that it was all Gauchos. Clemons, Hall, Amaral, Hoffman and Mady all got in on the goals again in the second half, with Gabriel, Kayla Matthies and Lainey Weintre all scoring their first goals of the day in the fourth quarter. Gabriel was particularly unstoppable, scoring three goals in a matter of 90 seconds.
 
The Gaucho goalies split time again, with Donleavy playing the first half and making four saves and Walker making three in the second.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will wrap up their trip to the Hoosier State on Sunday, taking on the hosting Hoosiers of No. 11 Indiana at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, then staying in the pool to face Salem at 7:30 a.m. Pacific. Both games will be streamed live on overnght.com with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.