CLAREMONT, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (11-7) begins Big West play this weekend, taking on No. 7 Long Beach State (7-8) in Long Beach on Saturday, but first the Gauchos will make a stop at the Claremont Convergence tournament on Friday, taking on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4-6) and Biola (1-10).
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara saw Biola last weekend at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, handing the Eagles a 19-12 defeat on Saturday. The Gauchos finished the weekend 2-2, adding a win against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday to come into this week's action on a two-game winning streak.
Isabel Valaika and
Imani Clemons led the Santa Barbara offense at the Kalbus Invitational, with Clemons tallying a team-high eight goals on the weekend and Valaika just behind with seven. Valaika also added two assists, though
Juju Amaral continued to be the Gauchos' top playmaker with five assists over the four games. She ranks second in The Big West for assists this season, setting up 36 goals for Santa Barbara so far.
Ava Donleavy had a big weekend as well, playing every minute in goal for the Gauchos, making 49 saves while also adding four assists and scoring her first collegiate goal.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps also comes into the weekend riding a two-game win streak after victories against Toronto and UC Merced on Saturday. Those were wins three and four on the season for the Division-III Athenas, though none of those have come against a Division-I opponent. CMS did nearly upset Cal State Fullerton at the beginning of February though, leading 7-6 at the start of the fourth quarter before ultimately falling, 9-8. Junior attacker Grace Clark scored three times against the Titans and comes into this week as the reigning SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week after tallying seven goals on eight shots against Toronto and UC Merced.
Biola is still on the skid after their 19-12 loss to the Gauchos last weekend, falling to Pomona-Pitzer, 14-8, in their most recent contest. It would be hard to blame the Eagles for their poor results outside of that loss to the Division-III Sagehens, as D-II Biola has played nine of their 11 games against Division-I institutions this season, including three meetings with current No. 2 USC. Four Eagles did all the scoring when they faced the Gauchos last weekend, with senior attacker Veralie Naranjo tallying five goals to run her team-leading total up to 32 on the season. Fellow senior attacker Ava LoBue added two and three assists, while senior utility Lizzy Birch recorded a hat-trick and junior utility Mia Mulhall added two more.
No. 7 Long Beach State has only played ranked opponents over their last 13 games, most recently taking down then-No. 6 UC Irvine, 14-13, in overtime to end their run at the Kalbus Invite. The Beach may only be 5-8 against ranked opponents, but they are undefeated against teams outside the top 10, with wins over San Diego State, UC San Diego and UC Davis. Much of Long Beach State's success this season has been built around their dynamic Spanish duo, Martina Cardona and Elisa Portillo, who rank fourth and fifth in The Big West in points per game this season. Both Spaniards have already cracked 30 goals this season, and Cardona has already hit the 20-assist mark as well. Australian defender Jamie Oberman is right behind Cardona on the playmaking front, with 19 assists of her own.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The Gauchos will open their weekend action at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, taking on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps from Axelrood Pool in Claremont. They will then pop next door to Pomona-Pitzer's Haldeman Pool for their 4:30 p.m. game against Biola. On Saturday, the Gauchos and Beach will get underway at 12 noon from Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center in Long Beach. Live stats for all three of this weekend's game will be available at ucsbgauchos.com/WWPLiveStats. Both of Friday's games will be streamed on FloSports.
