Water Polo Edges Cal to Advance to NCAA Semifinals

INDIANAPOLIS — The University of Hawai’i women’s water polo team surged early and again late to pull out an 8-7 win over California in the quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship on Friday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
 
The Big West champion and fourth-seeded Rainbow Wahine (22-4) jumped out to a 4-0 lead, fell behind in the third quarter, then scored three unanswered goals in the fourth to move back ahead. Goalie Daisy Logtens protected the lead in the final minutes to finish with 12 saves and UH advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the second consecutive season and sixth time overall.
 
“We’ve talked about resiliency and being able to fight back through that fourth quarter and make stop after stop, just really, really proud of that result,” UH head coach James Robinson said after his NCAA championship debut. 
 
The Rainbow Wahine will face No. 1 seed Stanford in a semifinal match on Saturday at noon Eastern Time (6 a.m. Hawai’i Time). The match will be streamed on ncaa.com. The Cardinal routed Wagner 28-6 in Friday’s first quarterfinal matchup.
 

 
UH got two goals each from Bernadette Doyle, Jordan Wedderburn, Alia Burlock and Ema Vernoux to account for the ‘Bows’ scoring. With UH trailing 6-5 going into the fourth quarter, Wedderburn scored the tying goal and Vernoux gave UH the lead with a penalty shot with 5:50 left. Doyle’s second goal of the match gave UH a two-goal cushion and ended up as the difference in the final score. 

Logtens’ saves total was the second highest in the NCAA tournament in program history, surpassing the 11 she had against Cal in last year’s 9-6 semifinal loss to the Bears in Berkeley, Calif. 

UH reversed the outcome in Friday’s NCAA rematch with its second win over Cal this season. The Golden Bears, an at-large selection from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, ended their season at 19-7.

 

Logtens came up with two saves on the game’s opening possession to kill off a power play and the ‘Bows struck first on Doyle’s shot from the wing. Logtens later assisted on UH’s second goal with a long outlet pass to Wedderburn who sprinted ahead of the pack and fired in her 66th goal of the season.  The ‘Bows extended the lead to 3-0 when Vernoux scored from the left side with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

 

UH made it a four-goal lead when Camille Radosavljevic lobbed a pass into Burlock who tipped it into the goal early in the second period. Cal broke through with the next three goals to close to within one and Burlock scored in the middle again off a feed from Vernoux. 

 

 
The ‘Bows took a 5-3 lead into halftime and Cal tied the match on two goals by Eszter Varro early in the third quarter. The Bears then took their first lead when Rozanne Voorvelt scored midway through the period. Cal turned away two UH shots late in the period and the Bears led 6-5 going into the fourth. 
 
Wedderburn, who had been limited by two exclusions, tied the match again 22 seconds into the final period. Radosavljevic drew a penalty and Vernoux converted the 5-meter shot to push UH ahead 7-6 with 5:50 remaining. Doyle lobbed in a shot for her second goal with 4:35 left to give UH a two-goal margin.
 

Logtens came up with two more saves in the final minute to raise her total to 12 and UH took possession with 19 seconds left. Cal scored with nine seconds left but UH ran out the clock to seal the win and send the ‘Bows to the national semifinals.
 
UH and Stanford will meet for the second time this season. The Cardinal posted a 12-7 win over the ‘Bows in the Fresno State Polopalooza on Jan. 18 in the opening weekend of the season. 
 

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