No. 21 Women’s Water Polo Dismisses Azusa Pacific to Advance to GCC Semifinals

LOS ANGELES – In control from start to finish, the No. 21 Pacific women’s water polo program submitted a wire-to-wire 16-9 victory over Azusa Pacific on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Golden Coast Conference Tournament at the Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of LMU.
 
The third-seeded Tigers (13-9, 5-2 GCC) pounced on sixth-seeded APU (16-15, 2-5 GCC) early and built a 6-3 first quarter lead. Pacific upped it to 10-3 in the second quarter to catapult ahead. The Tigers never trailed in the contest.
 
Each recording a hat trick were junior Dora Alaksza and sophomore Ella Cowan. Alaksza, an All-Conference First-Team selection, is up to 235 career goals, which ranks third all-time in Pacific history. She’s chasing Molly Smith’s program-leading tally of 286 goals from 1997-00 and Jessica Schroeder who is second with 268 goals from 2001-05.
 
Pacific, which has now won four of its last five games, garnered a pair of goals from senior Addison McGowan, senior Hila Futorian, senior Sierra Cavano and sophomore Alicia Petkov. McGowan, who was named an All-Conference Honorable Mention, registered a team-high five points after dishing out three assists. Futorian, an All-Conference Second-Team honoree, distributed a pair of assists.
 
Seniors Ilyana Zlobinsky and Natasha Dykman scored a goal apiece. Sophomore Maja Lizy Dulic, an All-Conference Honorable Mention, made nine saves in net and turned in a .500 save percentage.
 
APU was led by Jaeden Johnson’s three goals and two assists. GCC Newcomer of the Year Jessie Nelson was held scoreless.
 
Pacific knocked APU out of the conference tournament for the third year in a row. The Tigers are now 17-1 all-time against the Cougars and 6-0 at a neutral site.
 
With the win, the Tigers advanced to Saturday’s 2 p.m. semifinals. They’ll take on second-seeded and eighth-ranked Fresno State in a revenge match after dropping the regular season meeting 12-10.
 

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