Gauchos’ Rally Comes Up Just Short in Big West Quarterfinal

IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo team (16-13, 2-5 Big West) gave hosts and No. 3 seed UC Irvine (15-12, 5-2 Big West) everything the Anteaters could handle in Friday’s Big West Championship Quarterfinal, but the Gauchos’ late rally came up just a goal shy of sending things to overtime as Santa Barbara fell, 12-11. Christina Mullane recorded a hat-trick, while Juju Amaral tallied five assists and Ava Donleavy made 14 saves.
 
FROM INTERIM HEAD COACH EMMA MYALL
“We came in with a strong gameplan, we were really excited about our after-goal defense that we ran, and it worked pretty well for a good amount of the game,” Myall said. “In general, I’m so proud of the season this year. It was a very unexpected season for us, and the girls went through a lot of hardship and difficult times of change, and they started adjusting really well to me and to my staff, and we all realized we had each other’s backs and we wanted to win.”
 
“Our culture, that was the one thing I really wanted to focus on when I first came in as interim (head coach). I brought the girls together and we talked about love, and we talked about confidence and loyalty and accountability, and those things led us through the season. The number one of those was love, right? With love you have respect, you have all the things, and the celebration, the goals, the blocks, everything we’re doing, that’s all out of love for each other, and we’re a family at the end of the day.”
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos were all over the Anteaters early, with Mullane drawing and converting a penalty shot on Santa Barbara’s first possession. Amaral added her first of two goals on the day to double the Gauchos’ advantage to 2-0 inside two minutes. Irvine responded and tied the game before the second quarter, but Bella Mady scored the first goal of the second to put Santa Barbara back on top.
 
The second quarter went back and forth, with Irvine next to score, then Amaral putting the Gauchos ahead again. The Anteaters answered, but again Santa Barbara re-took the lead, this time through Imani Clemons. The Gauchos held that lead, a 5-4 edge, at halftime.
 
Irvine took their first lead of the day with the first two goals of the third quarter, but Santa Barbara again grabbed their lead back with goals from Mullane and Molly Souza, going up, 7-6. After another Anteater goal tied things, Annie Kuester gave the Gauchos the lead yet again, 8-7, heading into the fourth quarter.
 
For the first time all day, Irvine took a two-goal lead in the fourth, going in front by three, 11-8, with four and a half minutes left to play. Mullane’s third goal of the day reduced the arrears to two, then Isabel Valaika scored less than 20 seconds later to bring Santa Barbara back into the game, with the score 11-10. Irvine’s final goal of the day came just inside the three-minute mark, and Kuester kept the comeback dream alive with her second goal of the day, with a minute and 45 seconds left. The Gauchos got a chance to tie the game in the final ticks of the clock, but could not convert.