CSUN ended a subpar four-game weekend at the Aztec Invitational, going 1-3.
The Matador water polo team could not get passed Hawaii, San Jose State and San Diego State and their lone win was against UC San Diego.
CSUN vs. Hawaii
The No. 16 Matadors faced the No. 4 Hawaii Rain Warriors for the second time this season and fell short once again, 9-5. The last game the two teams played, CSUN lost 12-5.
“We knew what to expect, but we had time to improve since the last time we played them and we improved on bad decisions we made before,” said Jessica Goforth.
Hawaii shut down Northridge in the first period as the Warriors took a 2-0 lead.
The Matadors came back though and at the end of the half, they trailed 5-4.
The Rain Warriors made a push to end the third, 7-5, and added two more goals in the fourth.
Hawaii’s defense held the Matadors to no goals in the fourth to end the game.
CSUN vs. San Jose State
The second game of the double-header on Saturday was against the Spartans where Northridge lost, 14-11.
After one period of play, both teams were tied at three and San Jose State had a one goal lead of 8-7 at the halfway mark.
With the Spartans and Matadors neck-in-neck at 10-10 after three periods, San Jose’s offense went on a surge to score four goals and manage to hold CSUN to one goal to end the game.
“It was a game we could have won, but they capitalized on our mistakes we made in the fourth period and we weren’t able to comeback,” Goforth said.
CSUN junior goalkeeper Dana Harvey started both games and had a combined 23 saves.
CSUN vs. UC San Diego
In a Sunday matinee, the Matadors recorded their first win in the two-day invitational against the Tritons 9-6.
CSUN had a 2-1 lead in the first and by the second period, the Matadors scored four goals to end the half at 6-3.
After three periods of play, Northridge led 8-3 and did not look back en route to its victory.
It was the second Big West team the Tritons have lost to this season.
CSUN vs. San Diego State
Northridge did not close out the series split with its loss in the last game of the weekend, 17-7, against the Aztecs.
CSUN’s defense was not match for the Aztecs’ offense as San Diego State led 5-3 after the first period and scored four more goals in the second to lead 9-5 at the half.
The Matadors could not stop the Aztec squad as San Diego State added six goals in the third for an easy win.
The game snapped a two-game losing streak for the Aztecs after losing to San Jose State and Indiana. It was San Diego State’s fifth win over a Big West team.
“I think we were tired and our starters had played a lot of minutes, but also they (Aztecs) were bitter about their losses too and just came out harder than us,” Doll said.
Matador Whitney Delgado finished the invitational with eight goals. In net, Harvey and Nicole Concialdi had a combined 14 saves.
Award Winner
Matador Jillian Stapf was honored as Big West Conference Scholar-Athlete. Stapf, a three-time All-American and 2010 Big West Water Polo Player of the Year, holds career and single season saves record with 1,305 and 387 saves respectively.
