The 19th-ranked Cal State Northridge women’s water polo team dropped both games over the weekend to the seventh- ranked Long Beach State 49ers and the third-ranked Stanford Cardinals.
Sophomore 2 meter’s Allison Brookes and Christine Cruz each scored three goals in the match, but Long Beach State managed to come back and edge out the Matadors 11-10, in overtime.
“We played extremely well,” said head coach Molly Barnes. “Coming out strong by doing things right in the offense and capitalizing on Long Beach’s mistakes.”
The Matadors held an 8-5 lead at the end of the third period before the 49ers made their comeback.
Junior attacker Maria Canetti scored with 1:06 left in the third to cut the lead to two. Junior driver Christina Wensman’s goal with eight seconds to go made it 8-7 CSUN, heading into the fourth period.
With 29 seconds gone by in the fourth, Long Beach tied it up at eight with a goal by Senior 2 meter Tara Campbell. Another 49er goal by Canetti gave Long Beach the lead with 3:18 left in the game.
But senior driver Ashley Hunhoff forced overtime, scoring the game-tying goal with 1:07 remaining, evening the score at nine.
In the first overtime, Wensman gave Long Beach a 10-9 lead. The Matadors, however, answered back with a goal from Brookes 12 seconds later.
The deciding goal came from Canetti, who scored with 1:25 to go in the second overtime period to win the match for Long Beach State.
“In the end, they turned it up a notch,” Barnes said. “Although we were playing very well, they were able to elevate their play.”
The Matadors’ record dropped to 1-6 overall (0-2 in MPSF play), while Long Beach improved to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
CSUN’s next match was not as close as the previous one, the Matadors lost to Stanford 11-4.
Senior Erica Bonetti led the Matadors in goals with two, while senior 2 meter Heather van Hemert and Brookes each scored one.
“When we played Stanford we came out hesitant and shaky,” Barnes said. “They were a smart, quick team who capitalized on whatever opportunity they had against us.”
Stanford (6-1, 3-0 MPSF) scored the first six goals in the match. Freshman driver Lauren Silver scored 32 seconds into the match on a power play to make it 1-0. Then, junior driver Katie Hansen made it 2-0 at 3:29 on another exclusion goal, while Senior driver Scotti Shafer (:40) and Junior driver Hansen (:18) scored in the final minute to make it 4-0 at the end of the first period.
The Cardinals also netted the first two of the second period on exclusion goals by sophomore driver Jacquelyn Gauthier (3:08) and Hansen (:31).
CSUN recorded its first goal of the match 17 seconds before the end of the second quarter when Bonetti scored. Stanford, however, scored two goals in the third period.
Brookes cut the lead to 8-2 with 43 seconds into the final period, but senior 2 meter El-Sakkary quickly struck back 32 seconds later to give Stanford a 9-2 lead. CSUN cut the deficit to 9-4 on back-to-back goals by Bonetti (5:00) and van Hemert (4:16). Stanford, however, scored the final two goals of the match on goals by sophomore driver Megan May (3:54) and an exclusion goal by freshman 2 meter Jessica Steffens (2:19) that won the match for the Cardinals.
“We need to improve on putting the ball away on key opportunities,” Barnes said. “We also need to continue to have better ball control. San Diego State is very similar to Long Beach and what we need to do is come out strong.”
The Matadors’ record is 1-7 overall (0-3 in conference play). Their next home match will be against San Diego State Feb. 24 at 3 p.m.
Charles Kerranan can be reached at sports_sundial@csun.edu.
