UCLA
San Jose State
Top-Ranked Bruins Shut Down High-Scoring Spartans, 7-3
March 02, 2015 | Women's Water Polo
In their first game as the nation's No. 1 ranked team, the Bruins (15-1, 1-0) held the Spartans to their lowest goal total of the season and won the 32nd consecutive game in the series.
After UCLA's Alys Williams was excluded 63 seconds into the first quarter, San Jose State's Clara Espar Llaquet scored at 6:41 to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Barr answered 33 seconds later to tie the score. That goal ignited a 4-0 UCLA spurt – another goal by Barr and two by Fattal – before the Spartans' McKenna Yates scored with 22 seconds reaming to narrow the deficit to 4-2.
In the second quarter, the Bruins blanked the Spartans and scored twice. Kodi Hill scored at 2:57 and Williams scored at 1:02 on a power play resulting from the exclusion of SJSU's Victoria Smith.
Entering the third quarter with a 6-2 lead, the Bruins held their hosts for another eight minutes before Smith scored at 1:03 to close the lead to 6-3. Fattal responded with her third goal and second penalty score to raise the lead again to four, 7-3.
In the fourth quarter All-America senior goalkeeper Sami Hill made five of her 12 saves, and the Bruins shut down the Spartans for another eight minutes. All told UCLA held San Jose State scoreless for more than 20 minutes on Sunday.
UCLA hosts No. 4 Cal on Sun., Mar. 8 at noon in a Pac-12 Networks contest. To access the UCLA women's water polo schedule, click here.
Scoring
UCLA 7 (4-2-1-0)
SJSU 3 (2-0-1-0)
UCLA Scorers: Fattal-3, Barr -2, K. Hill, Williams -1.
SJSU Scorers: Llaquet, Yates, Smith
Saves: UCLA (S. Hill-12); SJSU (Thompson-7)
