UCLA
Pacific
UCLA Defeats Pacific, Advances to Semis
May 11, 2018 | Women's Water Polo
LOS ANGELES โ Fourth-seeded UCLA doubled up Pacific, 8-4, in opening-round action Friday at the National Collegiate Water Polo Championships at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Bruins advance to face crosstown rival and top-seeded USC in Saturday's first semifinal, set to begin at 3 p.m.
Devin Grab, Lexi Liebowitz and Lizette Rozeboom each registered a two-goal performance in the win. Five Bruins scored in all, while Carlee Kapana turned away five shots in the cage. Truly Dorland scored two goals of her own to lead the Tigers.
UCLA got going quickly, as freshman Roxy Wheaton scored at 6:42 for her first career NCAA Championships goal and seventh of the season. Each team was unable to capitalize on an extra-player opportunity, as the lower-seeded Tigers remained in striking distance. Rozeboom eventually gave the Bruins their first multi-goal edge as the clock neared zeroes (0:02).
Nicole Reynolds of the Bruins showed great second effort just shy of the midway point of the second quarter, cashing in an extra-player goal to make it 3-0 (4:37). Freshman Liebowitz followed up the veteran's effort with her first of the day (3:05) to force a Tiger timeout. Pacific responded with Dorland's first goal of the afternoon (2:54) and tacked on another, also by Dorland, just before the halftime buzzer sounded.
Leading by just two, the Bruins worked to retake momentum in the second half. Senior Grab took charge, scoring twice (5:36, 4:37) within the span of one minute to re-establish a four-goal advantage at 6-2. Pacific's Mariana Duarte chipped away with a score of her own (4:13), in what would be the final goal of the stanza.
Rozeboom made it 7-3 with her second of the game and 42nd of the season 1:20 into the fourth. Liebowitz joined the Netherlands native in the two-goal club at 5:43, extending the Bruin lead to a game-high five at 8-3. Kyra Christmas scored the game's final goal for Pacific, but it proved too little, too late.
In USC, UCLA will face a team it has dropped three games to in 2018. The Trojans squeezed by the Bruins, 6-4, in the Triton Invitational final on February 11. Then, in the regular-season finale, USC took charge early and never looked back en route to an 11-5 win (April 21). Finally, in a high-scoring affair, top-seeded USC edged UCLA by a 13-10 score in an MPSF Championships semifinal game April 28.
No. 4 UCLA 8, Pacific 4
Pacific (0, 2, 1, 1 โ 4)
GOALS: Dorland โ 2; Christmas, Duarte โ 1
SAVES: Hollinrake โ 10
No. 4 UCLA (2, 2, 2, 2 โ 8)
GOALS: Grab, Liebowitz, Rozeboom โ 2; Reynolds, Wheaton โ 1
SAVES: Kapana โ 5
