The No. 19 CSUN women’s water polo team beat University of the Pacific 20-7 at Matador Pool on Sunday for their first conference win of the season. The win highlighted three home games in which CSUN also lost games to No. 4 University of Hawaii 15-10 on Thursday and No. 5 California 10-7 on Saturday.

“We knew going into the game that it was a game that we were supposed to win and we were inspired,” head coach Molly Barnes said. “We weren’t about to go home disappointed. ”

Juniors Allison Brookes and Dayna Van Gorder were the high scorers for the Matadors on Sunday with four goals each. For Van Gorder, the four goals match her season-best that she set earlier in the week against University of Pacific on April 12. Junior Christine Cruz scored three goals and freshman Bethany Scamara and senior Jennifer Macdonell each contributed two. Five other Matadors also scored a goal, including sophomores Jessica Coy and Carolyn Cuzynski, who scored her first goal of the season. Freshman Kirra Kylander and Alexis Gacksetter and junior Brianna Wilson also scored one goal each.

“We had everybody in the game and we just kept scoring,” Barnes said. “It was a really good win.”

For Pacific, freshman Sarah Harris led the Tigers with four goals. Juniors Kellie Fletcher and Virginia McConnell and freshman Alex Kutac each scored one goal.

CSUN goalie freshman Jillian Stapf saved seven to bring her total saves for the season to 262. Pacific’s junior Jocelyn Gray had two saves in the game.

CSUN outscored the Tigers 5-3 in the first period and 4-0 in the second to take a 9-3 lead at the half. The Matadors’ offense continued to soar in the second half with five more goals in the third period and six in the fourth, compared to two goals by the Tigers in each of the last two periods.

“It was definitely a better showing than I was expecting,” Barnes said. “I couldn’t be happier with the game and the outcome.”

The win came one day after CSUN lost to No. 5 California 10-7. Barnes said that game was the toughest they had played all year.

“They’re a very good team and we played really, really hard and really tough and hung in there with them the entire four quarters,” Barnes said.

CSUN’s Van Gorder led all scorers in the game with three goals. Freshman Kristin McLaughlin scored season-high two goals, while Coy and Cruz each scored one goal.

For California, freshman Darby Anderson, junior Molly Hayes and sophomore Paige Lorenz each scored two goals. Freshmen Remy Champion, Meghan Corso, and Erin Scully, along with junior Vanessa Lindsey all had one goal.

The match was tight in the first half, with CSUN starting the scoring on goals by Van Gorder and Coy. California answered with three goals to go ahead 3-2, but the Matadors tied the score at 3-3 with a goal by Cruz. In the second quarter, both teams scored three more goals to end the first half with a 6-6 tie.

In the second half, the Matadors were held to only one goal, while the Bears scored four.

“We didn’t convert our opportunities in the fourth and they did, and that was the difference,” said Barnes.

Stapf had nine saves for CSUN, while junior Heather Stuart saved three for California.

“We were very happy with the way we played,” Barnes said. “It’s probably the best game we’ve ever had against the fifth ranked team in the country.”

CSUN also played the 4th-ranked team in the country last week, losing to the University of Hawaii 15-10 on Thursday, April 12.

Brookes tied her season-high of five goals and Van Gorder set a new season-high of four goals.

“On a positive note, even though they scored 15, we scored 10,” Brookes said. “To score 10 goals on the number four team in the country is not something that happens often – from the 19th ranked team.”

CSUN matched Hawaii in the fourth with each team scoring three, but it was not enough to overcome the third period scoring frenzy by the Rainbow Wahine. Hawaii’s Turnbull scored two more for Hawaii and Mason scored one. For the Matadors, Brookes, Cruz and Van Gorder each scored one goal in the fourth.

“We usually have a really good defense and somehow they got that run on us and that’s what killed us – that run,” Cruz said.

“Its just frustrating when you play well for three quarters and you have one quarter that just kills you. And the third quarter today just completely took us out of the game completely,” Barnes said.

The Matadors are now 13-17 overall and 1-10 in MPSF. The team travels to Santa Barbara this Saturday to close out the season with games against No.12 UC Santa Barbara and Chapman.

“We’re playing really well – we’re playing our best water polo,” Barnes said. “I like our chances against Santa Barbara.”

The game against UC Santa Barbara is scheduled for 12:00 pm and the Chapman game starts at 3:00 pm. Both games will be at the UC Santa Barbara Campus Pool.