California State University at Northridge
#20 Hartwick
Strong First Half Powers #11 CSUN Past #20 Hartwick 11-6
2/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
En Español
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -
The CSUN water polo team poured in nine goals in the first half as the 11th-ranked Matadors (4-3) defeated the No. 20 Hartwick College Hawks (1-3) 11-6 in the team's home opener on Sunday morning at Matador Pool. Kelcy Barott scored four goals and had an assist and a pair of steals as the Matadors won their third consecutive match.
"We responded really well to a couple of tough losses last weekend. Our players understand that we still have to get better but we're a good team this year and we need to treat every game like it's an important game," said CSUN head coach Marty Matthies. "We need to take care of business when we have to and be in the games when people don't expect us to be."
CSUN was firing on all cylinders early in the contest and raced out to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter. Four more before halftime gave the team a 9-1 advantage it would not surrender the rest of the way.
The third quarter proved to be a defensive battle as the Matadors outscored the Hawks by a slim 2-1 margin before Hartwick shutout CSUN 4-0 in the final frame.
"When you play with that big of a lead you tend to slow it down. It's hard to sometimes keep your focus and that's something we have to work on," said Matthies. "But also, we start getting a few different rotations in there and start trying some different things out as well. It gets girls some minutes that they don't always get, too."
McKenzie Pollei had a pair of goals for CSUN, which also saw scoring from Kelcie Ferreira, Katelyn Fairchild, Marisa Young, Amy Yule and Madeline Sanchez. Ferreria added three steals while Young and Shannon Hovanesian had two each.
Kiernan Davis made four saves in one half in goal and also had two assists and two steals. Natalie Averell had two saves and three steals while Niki Van Vugt finished out the contest in the final half of the fourth quarter.
The Matadors will be back in action next weekend at the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego and will have two matches on Saturday, Feb. 7 and two more on Sunday, Feb. 8. The opening match of the tournament will be against UC Davis at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with a second-round contest at either 4:30 p.m. or 5:50 p.m. depending on the outcome.
Box Score:
Hartwick (1-3) 0-1-1-4 = 6
CSUN (4-3) 5-4-2-0 = 11
Hartwick Goal Scorers: Anton Cuesta, Tait 2, Minaljlovik 3
CSUN Goal Scorers: Ferreira (6), Barott 4 (10), Fairchild (3), Young (9), Pollei 2 (6), Yule (3), Sanchez (12)
Hartwick GK Saves: Unavailable
CSUN GK Saves: Davis 4, Averell 2, Van Vugt 0
