UCLA Women's Water Polo Looks to Split with Southern Cal After 5-3 Loss
UCLA Women's Water Polo Looks to Split with Southern Cal After 5-3 Loss
Yesterday's game was a defensive battle between the Bruins and the Trojans. Today, UCLA will look to earn a split with their rivals.
The UCLA women’s water polo lost to Southern Cal yesterday by a score of 5-3. This morning, the Bruins will look to split the weekend series with the Trojans. The opening sprint for today’s game is set for 11 am PT. The game will be livestreamed, but not broadcast.
Last Time Out
Yesterday’s defensive battle was the lowest-scoring game of the season. Only three goals were scored in the first three quarters.
In fact, the first goal of the game wasn’t scored until there was just 40 seconds left in the first quarter. That’s when Grace Tehaney put Southern Cal on the board.
The next goal didn’t happen until there was just 2:48 left in the half when Lexi Liebowitz tied the game up for the Bruins. But the Trojans re-took the lead with 1:17 left in the half when Bayley Weber found the back of the net. That gave the Trojans a 2-1 lead at the half.
The defensive battle continued into the second half as neither team was able to score in the third quarter. Weber scored the first goal of the second half 16 seconds into the fourth quarter, giving the Trojans a 3-1 lead.
The final 3:08 saw a scoring flurry with as many goals being scored in that time frame as were scored in the first 28:52. Leibowitz closed the gap to a point when she scored her second goal of the game with 3:08 to go. Unfortunately, Southern Cal scored a pair of consecutive goals. First, Maud Megens picked up what would be the winning goal for the Trojans and, then, Kelsey McIntosh added an insurance goal with 1:33 left.
Those goals left the Bruins trailing 5-2 and, while Liebowitz completed a hat trick with 41 second to go, it was too little, too late and UCLA fell 5-3 to their crosstown rivals.
Today’s Game
When UCLA lost to the Trojans yesterday, they lost the opportunity to win the MPSF regular season title. But that doesn’t mean that only bragging rights are on the line today.
The Bruins could use a win to secure the number two seed in the MPSF Women’s Water Polo Tournament. With a win, UCLA will lock that up, but a loss could leave the Bruins in a tie with Stanford if the Cardinal beat San Jose State today. It’s not clear what the tiebreaking procedure would be to determine which team gets the number two seed in that case.
#3 UCLA Women’s Water Polo (10-3, 8-3)
Opponent: #1 Southern Cal Trojans (17-0, 11-0)
When: 11:00 am PT, Saturday, April 25, 2021
Where: Spieker Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, CA
TV: None
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Live Stats: TheFosh.net
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!!
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