SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (16-11, 2-4 Big West) honored seven graduating seniors on Saturday afternoon, and all seven delivered special Senior Day moments to help the Gauchos defeat CSUN (16-12, 1-6 Big West), 13-12 in overtime. Juju Amaral and Jojo Scheer each scored, with Annie Kuester tallying twice. Imani Clemons and Christina Mullane both had monster games, with Clemons scoring four goals and Mullane recording three goals and three assists, while Ava Donleavy had one of the games of her life in goal, making a career-best 17 saves.
 
FROM INTERIM HEAD COACH EMMA MYALL
"I've never been so proud of a group of girls," Myall said of the seniors. "They definitely pushed me as a coach and they definitely have proven themselves to be one of the greatest groups to come through Santa Barbara, in my opinion. They know how to work together, how to connect. They finally finished a game and learned how to play together and finish a game together. I know senior days are always hard to have and play because it's such an emotional game but these girls brought it together and did such a great job, and I'm so proud of them. I love them all and they did amazing today. I'm so proud of them."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a chippy, physical and sometimes downright dirty game on Saturday, and the teams traded blows on the scoreboard early. Each team scored on their first possession, with Kuester tallying for the Gauchos, but the Matadors had a 3-1 lead inside three minutes. Bella Mady cut that lead to 3-2 with a goal, but a five-meter penalty shot put CSUN back up by two. The Matadors had a chance to extend their lead to three with another five-meter shot just over a minute later, but Donleavy denied them. With 17 seconds to go before the end of the quarter, Kuester scored again to bring the Gauchos within one, down 4-3.
 
In contrast to the quick start of the first quarter, the second frame was about defense first, with neither team scoring through the first four minutes of the period. CSUN was first to score, but Clemons answered less than 10 seconds later, and with just under three minutes until halftime, Mullane scored to tie the score at 5-5. Clemons tallied her second goal of the day just after the two-minute mark to put the Gauchos ahead, 6-5, but the Matadors tied the game at six by halftime.
 
Mullane and Amaral scored the first two goals of the second half, giving Santa Barbara a two-goal lead for the first time on the afternoon, and after CSUN pulled one back, Clemons restored the two-goal margin with three minutes left in the third. However, the Matadors scored twice before the buzzer, including one right at the buzzer, to re-tie the scores at 9-9 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
 
Each team scored only once in the fourth quarter, with Scheer putting the Gauchos on top less than 15 seconds into the frame before CSUN tied the scores at 10-10 with four and a half minutes to play. The Matadors got their first lead since the first quarter by being the first to score in overtime, but Isabel Valaika provided Santa Barbara's response, keeping the scores tied at 11-11 after the first three-minute overtime period.
 
After less than 30 seconds in the second extra frame, Clemons put the Gauchos up, 12-11, and half a minute later, Mullane fired home a long-range rocket to extend the lead to 13-11. Mullane's howitzer of a goal proved to be the decider as CSUN scored only one more goal before the buzzer. The Matadors did have the ball in the final 10 seconds, but Mullane got her hand on the shot to force it wide of the goal and secure the win.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara has one game left in the regular season, a road trip to La Jolla to face No. 11 UC San Diego on Friday, April 18 at 12 noon. With a win against the Tritons, the Gauchos could secure the No. 4 seed for The Big West Championship, which begins on April 25 in Irvine. Next Friday's game in La Jolla will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/WWPLiveStats.