Story Links Buy Tickets Tournament Info LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo team (5-1, 0-0 Big West) is back in familiar territory this week, as the Gauchos will join most of their Big West conference-mates at the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego this weekend. After a […]
LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo team (5-1, 0-0 Big West) is back in familiar territory this week, as the Gauchos will join most of their Big West conference-mates at the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego this weekend. After a strong showing in the Midwest last week, Santa Barbara moved up three spots in the rankings, a rise they will look to continue against more strong competition. The Gauchos open their weekend against No. 7 Fresno State on Friday, and will then face either No. 5 Hawai’i or Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, depending on results. With the Triton Invitational one of the few events still employing a true bracket format, the Gauchos’ final two opponents will be determined by results of the first two games.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos are back in the Golden State after a successful visit to the Indiana Classic last weekend, where the Blue and Gold went 3-1 with their only loss a one-goal decision against hosting No. 11 Indiana. Interim Head Coach Emma Myall had plenty of good things to say despite her team’s loss to the Hoosiers, as the Gauchos had rallied back from a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at nine with 36 seconds left. Myall said the only mistakes her team made on the weekend were the kind that coaches expect in just the second week of the season; the Gauchos will look to get those ironed out before heading to La Jolla.
Annie Kuester had hat-tricks in three different games, including against the Hoosiers, while Madison Walker was excellent in goal, especially on Sunday. She played the final 11 minutes and change of the Indiana game, making four big saves to help the Gauchos get back in it. She then played the entirety of Santa Barbara’s final game on the weekend, matching her career high with 18 stops in a 14-4 win over Salem. Freshmen Hadde Hall, Morgan Hoffman and Bella Mady were among the handful of Gauchos who put in impressive shifts on the weekend.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 7 Fresno State (3-3, 0-0 Golden Coast) will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak on Friday morning, as they finished their visit to last weekend’s Cal Cup in Berkeley with defeats against Cal and UCLA. This weekend will be Fresno’s longest road trip of the young season, as they opened the year by hosting their PoloPalooza, where they went 2-1. The Bulldogs have defeated both Big West foes they’ve faced this season, dispatching UC San Diego on opening weekend and Long Beach State last Saturday.
The defending Golden Coast Conference champions return all three of their All-Americans from last year: junior attacker Hailey Andress, junior utility Brooke Ochoa and fifth-year senior attacker Abbey Simshauser, who was named GCC Player of the Week after a 10-goal, four-assist opening weekend.
No. 5 Hawai’i (4-1, 0-0 Big West) hosted their Rainbow Invitational last weekend, sweeping through it with wins over Loyola Marymount, Biola and Arizona State. The Rainbow Wahine also picked up an opening-weekend win over San Jose State at Fresno’s PoloPalooza, though they were also defeated by Stanford there.
Hawai’i had a historic season in 2024, finish ranked as the No. 3 team in the country, their highest-ever final ranking. They placed five players on All-America teams and had a player compete at the Olympics. However, they were picked to finish second in The Big West this season. Three of their All-Americans are gone, two having graduated and one transferring to UCLA. The two that are back for this year are sophomore goalkeeper Daisy Logtens and senior attacker Bernadette Doyle. Two ‘Bows, junior utility Camille Radosavljevic and freshman attacker Ema Vernoux, do bring Olympic experience, having played for France last summer.
Cal State Fullerton (4-0, 0-0 Big West) are off to their best start in their program’s three-year history, beating Cal State Monterrey Bay and Ottawa Arizona at home on opening day before taking care of Concordia Irvine and Biola in Long Beach the next day. The Titans took last weekend off and will open the Triton Invitational with a tough matchup against Hawai’i. The Titans went 10-19 last year but made a big leap forward by upsetting then-No. 25 CSUN for their first Big West win.
Shyanne Rainey was an All-America Honorable Mention for Fullerton last season, but that was her final one with the Titans, they will need someone else to step up this year. Through one weekend, that has been the duo of senior utility Destiny Hernandez and freshman attacker Elise Bliss. Hernandez has nine goals and three assists, though Bliss is close behind with eight and one.
The rest of the field includes six of the Gauchos’ Big West conference-mates, with only No. 17 CSUN elsewhere. Perennial powers No. 3 USC and reigning National Champion No. 1 UCLA will both be in attendance. No. 7 Arizona State, No. 11 Loyola Marymount, No. 18 San Diego State and No. 21 California Baptist will be on hand as well, with Concordia Irvine and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps joining Fullerton as the only unranked teams in the field.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The action begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, when the Gauchos and Bulldogs will play in the tournament’s curtain-raising contest. If the Gauchos win, they will play the winner of Hawai’i and Cal State Fullerton at 12 noon on Saturday; with a loss to Fresno State, Santa Barbara would play the loser of Hawai’i and Cal State Fullerton at 9:20 a.m. on Saturday. From there, the Gauchos will play one more game on Saturday before a final game on Sunday. Times and opponents in those contests will be determined by Santa Barbara’s results. Check ucsbgauchos.com for the most up-to-date schedule. The games will not be live streamed this weekend, and only contests featuring the hosts UC San Diego will have live stats.
Tickets to attend the matches at Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.
