Last week, the Cal State Northridge water polo team competed in two tournaments. The Matadors won all of their matches when they hosted a mini-tournament March 15 and won one game at the Wolverine Invitational March 18-19.

At the CSUN mini-tournament, freshman driver Jessica Coy led the team with eight goals as CSUN defeated Wagner 13-11 in overtime, Macalester College 18-1, and Cal Lutheran, 12-5.

Coy led all scorers with four goals in the first match against Wagner. Sophomore 2 meters Allison Brookes and sophomore Christine Cruz each scored three goals. Senior 2 meter Heather van Hemert added two and junior driver Jennifer Macdonnell chipped in one while senior goalie Graziella Caredda had 15 saves.

In the game against Macalester, junior Jennifer Macdonnell and sophomore 2 meter Brianna Wilson led the Matadors’ attack by scoring three goals each. Cruz, freshman driver Devin Sloan, and freshman utility Carolynn Cuzynski each added two, while Coy, Brookes, van Hemert, junior driver Loren Myers, freshman driver Melissa Mendoza, and freshman utility Erica Waltemade each scored one goal.

In the Matadors’ final game of the tournament against Cal Lutheran, Coy led all scorers with three goals, while Brookes and van Hemert chipped in two each. Macdonnell, Mendoza and junior driver Lynzy Klein each scored one. Caredda had 12 saves for CSUN.

CSUN then traveled to Michigan to compete in the Wolverine Invitational.

Brookes tallied five goals on the first day of competition, but CSUN failed to win a match and lost to No. 19-ranked Indiana 10-9 and 15th ranked Michigan 11-6.

In the match against Indiana, Brookes scored first at the 5:18 mark to give the Matadors an early 1-0 lead.

The Hoosiers scored back-to-back goals to take the lead 2-1 with four minutes remaining in the first period.

A goal by Coy tied the match at two with 2:35 left in the period. But Indiana scored another goal with 24 seconds remaining in the quarter to give Indiana the lead.

Indiana held the lead for the rest of the game. A late goal in the fourth by Coy brought the Matadors within one, 10-9 as CSUN fell to the Hoosiers.

Brookes led the team with four goals, while Coy tallied three and Heather van Hemert had two.

The Matadors started strong in their next match against the Wolverines.

Myers netted the first goal 42 seconds into the game. Michigan, however, countered with a goal at the 5:56 mark to tie the game at one. Myers scored another goal 33 seconds later to give CSUN a 2-1 lead. Klein scored a goal, and Michigan added another goal in the first quarter as CSUN took a 3-2 lead going into the second quarter.

The Wolverine defense shut down the Matadors in the second period as they outscored CSUN, 2-0, taking a 4-3 lead.

A big third period for Michigan expanded the Wolverine lead. Coy had CSUN’s only goal of the third period while the Wolverines scored five.

Brookes and van Hemert each added a goal for CSUN in the final period as the Matadors fell, 11-6.

On the final day of the tournament, the Matadors managed to defeat Michigan State 9-4, but fell to Cal Baptist 6-3.

Against Michigan State, CSUN took an early 2-0 lead in the first four minutes before allowing the Spartans to score a goal with 38 seconds left in the first period. CSUN held off MSU in the second quarter, while scoring four goals to take a 6-1 lead.

Although MSU’s defense was able to keep the Matadors scoreless in the third quarter, it only scored in one goal,

The Spartans were unable to recover from the large deficit, and the Matadors outscored them 3-2 in the final quarter to win the match, 9-4.

During the match against Cal Baptist, the Lancers held a 1-0 lead after the first period. Senior diver Ashley Hunhoff scored the Matadors’ first goal of the game at the 3:35 mark of the second period to tie the game.

Cal Baptist answered, scoring two more goals in the last three minutes to take a 3-1 advantage into the break.

Mendoza scored a goal with 4:09 remaining in the third period to bring the Matadors back within one, 3-2, but the Lancer scored another goal to widen Cal Baptist’s lead to 4-2.

In the fourth quarter, CBU outscored the Matadors 2-1 to take a 6-3 victory.

CSUN now holds a 10-14 record overall this season. They will return to MPSF action March 25 to take on Arizona State in Tempe.

Charles Keeranan can be reached at charles.keeranan.87@csun.edu.