The Cal State Northridge women’s water polo team faced two of the top teams in the nation last weekend and came away with two more losses. The Matadors were defeated 12-5 by No. 7 Arizona State on Saturday and lost to No. 5 San Diego State 15-8 on Sunday.
CSUN, ranked 15th in the nation, was unable to pull off the upset against the Sun Devils at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Arizona. Kristin McLaughlin scored two goals for the Matadors in the defeat. Allison Brookes, Jessica Coy and Renee Gargiulo each scored one goal. Goalkeeper Jillian Stapf made six saves.
“It took a while for us to settle down and get going,” said head coach Molly Barnes. “We dug ourselves into a hole that we couldn’t get out of.”
For the Sun Devils, Katy Lawlor scored four goals, tying her career-best. Addison McGrath added three goals and Kelly Phelps scored two. Amanda Stepp, Bonnie Miles and Lauren Hayes each scored one goal in the game. Caylinn Wallace made 17 saves.
“She’s a great goalie and she had a great day against us,” Barnes said.
ASU quickly had a 2-0 lead after back-to-back goals by Lawlor. McGrath extended the lead to 3-0 before McLaughlin scored her first goal of the game at 2:18, bringing the score to 3-1. With 14 seconds left in the period, ASU’s Phelps scored to extend the Sun Devils lead to 4-1.
Brookes started the scoring in the second period with a goal at 7:21. After nearly three minutes without a goal, Lawlor scored her third of the game, extending ASU’s lead to 5-2. McLaughlin scored her second of the game just a minute later, closing the gap to 5-3, but not for long as ASU quickly went up 7-3 with goals by Hayes and Phelps.
Lawlor scored her fourth goal of the game at 7:34 in the third period for a 8-3 lead for the Sun Devils. Coy put one in for CSUN at 3:36, followed by another ASU goal, this one by Stepp at 1:07, giving the Sun Devils a 9-4 lead.
Gargiulo scored to start the fourth period, but it would be the last goal of the game for the Matadors. Miles quickly got one back for ASU and McGrath scored two more to end the game with a 12-5 win for the Sun Devils.
Barnes said the Matadors man-up situations, a ongoing problem over the season, “was really bad” in the game.
Things didn’t get any easier for the Matadors when they returned home on Sunday for their game with the Aztecs at Matador Pool.
Chelsea Curran and Gargiulo both scored two goals in the loss, with McLaughlin, Coy, Brookes and Dayna Van Gorder each chipping in one goal. Stapf made seven saves in the game and back-up goalie Nicole Concialdi saved two.
For the Aztecs, Anna Gonzales scored a game-high five goals, followed by Jessica Schuster with three. Sarah Brady and Becca Ur each scored two goals and Tiphanie Elliott, Jessica Pace-Bowers and Danielle Pelke each scored one goal. Goalie Heather Fenske made seven saves.
“It was the best first period we’ve had all year,” Barnes said. “We gave up two unlucky goals in the second and it was demoralizing and hard to recover from.”
Indeed, things looked good for the Matadors at the beginning of the game with Curran starting the scoring at 6:58 in the first period. The Aztecs answered with a goal by Pace-Bowers, but McLaughlin took back the lead with her goal at 5:22. The Aztecs tied the game at 2-2 with a goal by Brady, but Curran quickly scored her second of the game for a 3-2 lead, which was extended to 4-2 with a goal by Coy. The Aztecs narrowed the lead with a goal by Ur at 1:52 for a 4-3 score at the end of the first.
The second period was all Aztecs, as San Diego State scored six goals, while the Matadors put just one in the net. Schuster scored at 7:18 to tie the score at 4-4. More than four minutes later, Gonzales scored back-to-back goals in less than one minute. Gargiulo answered with a goal for CSUN, but Elliot and Ur scored to extend the Aztec lead to 8-5.
Van Gorder cut San Diego’s lead to 8-6 with a goal at 7:13 in the third period. Goals by Gonzales and Brady extended the Aztecs’ lead to 10-6 before Brookes got one back at 4:19. The Aztecs scored four more goals before the period ended with a 14-7 score.
After three periods of heavy scoring, the fourth period was quiet with just two goals scored: one by San Diego’s Pelke at 3:13 and one by CSUN’s Gargiulo at 1:28 for a final score of 15-8.
The Matadors will end regular season play at home on Saturday with games against UC Santa Barbara at 10:30 a.m. and Cal State San Bernardino at 3:30 p.m. Seniors Brookes, Van Gorder and Briana Wilson, who has not played this season due to injury, will be honored before the first game.
“I can’t remember what it was like to coach before Ally was on the team,” Barnes said. “We will be losing two big time seniors and offensive threats.”
