BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (5-1, 0-0 Big West) finished their trip to the Indiana Classic on a strong note, despite having to settle for just one win from two games on Sunday. Despite starting their day at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, the Gauchos pushed hosts No. 11 Indiana all the way, mounting a massive second-half comeback and nearly forcing overtime in a valiant 10-9 loss. The Blue and Gold went on to finish the weekend with a win, taking down Salem, 14-4, in the final action of their trip.
 
FROM INTERIM HEAD COACH EMMA MYALL
"The first game, the girls were really, really excited to finally have a really high-level game, they gave it their all, that game was amazing," Myall said of her team's clash with the Hoosiers. "We made some defensive mistakes, just small little mistakes that we definitely know what we did wrong and they're ready to capitalize next time we play one of these games. It's the beginning of the season, and that's the type of mistake you want to make, but the girls played with heart and I lost my voice, it was a real high-intensity game, so exciting."
 
"We really started capitalizing on our goals toward the end of the game, the thing that just wasn't happening was we weren't getting the ball in the back of the net. We were taking our chances, and that's what you love to see is the confidence of the girls; they kept shooting. It was really good, I'm so proud of them. They have really gone through adversity with the staff change, and I could not be happier to be their coach. They're amazing. Really proud of them for this weekend, especially the game this morning, it's going to make us better for the next tournament and we're excited for San Diego."
 
GAUCHOS 9, No. 11 INDIANA 10
Santa Barbara started their opening game on the front foot, with Aidan Flynn putting them ahead inside the first minute while the defense forced turnover after turnover for the Hoosiers. The home side eventually found the back of the net, taking advantage of a 6-on-5 opportunity, and the teams finished the first tied at one. Indiana had a great chance to take the lead late in that first quarter when Santa Barbara goalkeeper Ava Donleavy was called for an exclusion and had to leave the cage for 20 seconds, but the Gaucho defense rallied and forced another turnover to end that threat.
 
The Hoosiers scored first in the second quarter, but Annie Kuester answered back almost immediately to tie the game back up. She scored again in the final minute of the half, but by then Indiana had scored two more and went into the break up, 4-3.
 
Things got a bit out of hand for the Gauchos in the third quarter, as Indiana scored the first three goals after halftime, creating a 7-3 advantage. After the seventh goal, Madison Walker replaced Donleavy in net for Santa Barbara and helped stop the Hoosier run. At the other end, Loretta Hovey scored to get the Gauchos back on the scoresheet too, though the Hoosiers would get their eighth goal of the game before the buzzer sounded. But also before the quarter-ending buzzer, Juju Amaral scored to give Santa Barbara the momentum heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Indiana seemed to have taken that momentum back when they were the first team to score in the fourth, making it a 9-5 game, but the Gauchos stormed back. Aidan Flynn and Bella Mady each scored powerplay goals within a minute of each other, and Amaral scored her second of the game with just over three minutes left to pull Santa Barbara within one. They stayed that close, thanks in large part to some great saves from Walker in goal, until the final minute, when Kuester fired home the tying goal with just 36 seconds to play. However, the hosts got the last word, scoring the winning goal with just 10 seconds left. The Gauchos had one last chance, but Indiana goalkeeper Jasmine Higgs made her 17^th save of the game to turn away Santa Barbara's last attempt at forcing overtime.
 
GAUCHOS 14, SALEM 4
Things were much more straightforward in the second game of the day, as the Gauchos led from their very first possession, when Bella Mady scored her first of three goals on the day. Jojo Scheer also had a hat-trick in the game, scoring her first of the day as part of a four-goal first quarter for Santa Barbara. With Isabel Valaika and Hovey putting the ball in the back of the net as well, the Gauchos led 4-1 after the first, and they would go on to grab an 8-1 lead at the half, with goals from Mady, Morgan Hoffman (twice) and Imani Clemons in the second quarter.
 
Christina Mullane got in on the party to start a five-goal third quarter for Santa Barbara, with Scheer, Valaika, Mady and Molly Souza all joining in on the fun as well. The Gauchos carried a 13-3 lead into the final frame, where each team scored only once, doing so at opposite ends of the period. Scheer completed her hat-trick inside the first minute, while Salem grabbed a fourth goal just seconds before the final buzzer.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will return to California and head to San Diego for their next matches, taking part in UC San Diego's Triton Invitational, Jan. 31 through Feb. 2. Santa Barbara opens the weekend at 8 a.m. on Friday, when they will take on No. 9 Fresno State.