Women's Water Polo | April 25, 2015

GENEVA, Ohio -- In day two of the WWPA Championship Tournament, the Cal State Monterey Bay Women's Water Polo team battled with Gannon University en route to a 9–3 win to avoid elimination. The Otters followed up the win falling to UC San Diego in the second semifinal game of the day, 12–8.

CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY 9, GANNON UNIVERSITY 3 -- BOX SCORE
The Otters were in familiar territory after playing to a 2-2 tie after the first eight minutes of play. However, CSUMB turned it on out scoring Gannon 7–1 over the next three quarters. The Lady Knights got their only other goal in the second quarter. From then on the Otter defense held strong, led by senior goalkeeper Amanda Jennings (Oakley, Calif. / Freedom HS) who recorded a season–high 25 saves to help her team avoid elimination.

Offense for CSUMB was led by senior Samantha Whitecotton (Roseville, Calif. / Woodcreek HS) who recorded a hat trick in the win. Tatiana Veloso (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) kept her hot hand from yesterday's game, netting her second hat trick in as many games and now has six goals in two games at the WWPA Tournament. Combined, Whitecotton and Veloso scored six of the nine Otter goals in the win.

UC SAN DIEGO 12, CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY -- BOX SCORE
The Tritons rolled to a 3–0 lead after the first quarter, but CSUMB was not going to go down without a fight. Goals by Adrianna Craft (Belmont, Mich. / Rockford Senior HS), Bree Hogervorst (Ramona, Calif. / Mountain Valley Academy), and Veloso put the Otters back with in striking distance, trailing by one goal at the end of the half, 4–3.

Despite 13 saves from Jennings in the game, UC San Diego was able to score five goals to the CSUMB two, pulling ahead 9–5 heading into the final quarter. While the effort was not lacking in the fourth quarter, UCSD matched the Otters three goals to hold the four goal lead and hand the Otters the 12–8 loss.

Veloso continued to score at will netting yet another hat trick and now has nine goals in three games in the tournament. Kara Orr (Los Banos HS) contributed two goals in the loss.

Monterey Bay will play in the third–place game against no. 4 seed Sonoma State Sunday morning at 7:30 am.