UCLA
Arizona State
No. 3 Bruins Burn No. 4 Sun Devils, 13-5
April 08, 2017 | Women's Water Polo
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The No. 3 UCLA women's water polo team defeated No. 4 Arizona State Saturday at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, 13-5. Four Bruins posted multi-goal games in the win, led by Alexa Tielmann, with four. On the defensive side, Rachel Fattal totaled four steals to become UCLA's all-time career leader in the category.
Following an exclusion on the Sun Devils' Claudia Abad, UCLA's Alys Williams used the six-on-five advantage to net the game's first goal at 5:30 of the opening frame. Fattal followed with an even-strength effort of her own at 2:53 to push the lead to 2-0. Abad cut the Sun Devil deficit in half with a six-on-five score at 1:18 of the frame to send the game to its first break with the Bruins leading, 2-1.
Scoring came early and often in the second frame, as Williams scored her second goal of the game 14 seconds into the frame. Abad added her second 29 seconds later, only to be answered by the Bruins' Maddie Musselman 31 seconds after that. Fattal followed suit with her second at 6:23 of the quarter to put the UCLA (18-1, 4-0) lead at 5-2. The Sun Devils' Bente Rogge capitalized on a Mackenzie Barr exclusion at 4:56 of the frame, setting up a run on goals by the Bruins' Tielmann. The redshirt senior contributed two even-strength scores at 3:00 and 18 seconds to send UCLA to the half with a 7-3 lead over Arizona State (18-6, 2-3).
Tielmann kept the goals coming to open the second half, as she found the back of the net 24 seconds into the third quarter. Musselman (4:43) posted her second of the game, while Bronte Halligan added her first (1:13) and goalie Carlee Kapana and the Bruins kept the Sun Devils scoreless for the game's third frame. The sophomore posted eight saves on the afternoon.
Lizette Rozeboom got into the act with a six-on-five goal at 7:14 of the final quarter to push the Bruin lead to 11-3. The Sun Devils' Alkistis Benekou scored at 5:55 of the frame, but again, the Bruins quickly answered. Tielmann posted her fourth goal of the game at 5:24 to give her 10 over the Bruins' last four games. Maud Koopman scored ASU's final goal at 5:07, while Musselman completed her hat trick at 1:52 to finalize scoring at 13-5.
Saturday's win began three weeks of play against nation's best to conclude the regular season. The Bruins will next make a trip north to Stanford, where they will take on the No. 2 Cardinal in a 3:00 p.m. game at Avery Aquatic Center.
No. 3 UCLA (2, 5, 3, 3 โ 13)
Tielmann โ 4; Musselman โ 3; Fattal, Williamsย โ 2; Halligan, Rozeboomย โ 1
No. 4 Arizona State (1, 2, 0, 2 โ 5)
Abad โ 2; Benekou, Koopman, Rogge โ 1
