Matadors Face Big West Competition at the Triton Invitational

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

After a two-week layoff, No. 25 CSUN Water Polo returns to the pool at UC San Diego's Triton Invitational beginning Saturday morning. The Matadors will compete in a 16-team invitational filled with several nationally-ranked teams including five programs ranked in the Top 10. Two months before the start of the conference season, CSUN will face two Big West opponents on day one of the tournament. At 11:10 a.m., the Matadors will take on the No. 7 UC Davis Aggies and later in the day, CSUN faces off with either UC Irvine or Long Beach State. The Anteaters and 49ers square off after the Matadors' morning match, and the winners and losers of each game will compete in separate afternoon matches. On Sunday, the Matadors will compete twice more with their opponents to be determined after Saturday's matches.

The Matadors enter the weekend after posting two victories at the Cal Baptist Invitational on Jan. 30. Sophomore Madeleine Sanchez recorded seven goals to lead CSUN to a 13-5 win over Pomona-Pitzer and she scored twice more in 16-7 victory against Concordia. Her seven-goal performance tied Chari Christopher (2003), Whitney Delgado (2011) and Lindsy Duncan (2013) for the most goals in a match in school history. Sanchez also posted six steals in the two wins.

Amy Yule scored four times at the Cal Baptist Invitational while 11 different Matadors registered goals including freshman Miranda Coleman who scored her first two goals of her collegiate career. Against Concordia, freshman Lindsey Garcia posted her first career hat trick and totaled five assists combined on the day.

After a career day at Cal Baptist, Sanchez comes into this weekend's matches leading CSUN in scoring with 19 tallies to go along with 11 steals and five assists. She is also shooting an impressive 61.3 percent in the pool. Yule is second on the team in goals with 11 on 45.8 percent shooting. Two other sophomores, Katelyn Fairchild and Shannon Hovanesian both are tied for the team lead in steals (12) and assists (9). In net, goalkeeper Niki Van Vugt has started all six matches and has posted 41 saves and is allowing a 9.20 goals-against-average.

CSUN is 6-12 all-time against the Aggies and 2-7 in neutral site games. Last season, the Matadors pulled off a 10-8 victory over the Aggies at the Triton Invitational and CSUN went 2-1 against UC Davis during the season. The two teams faced off in the 2015 Big West Conference Third Place Game as CSUN earned a 10-9 victory in Honolulu.

The No. 7 Aggies are off to a 5-3 start to the season and have earned three wins over ranked opponents in 2016. Last weekend, UC Davis went 2-2 at the Stanford Invitational, defeating San Jose State, 14-6, and Pacific, 14-10. Allyson Hansen leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and the senior earned Big West Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 10 after totaling 10 tallies at the Stanford Invitational. As a team, the Aggies have scored 94 goals through eight games. In net, senior Haley Cameron has started five matches and has surrendered an 8.0 goals-against-average in 144.0 minutes of action.

Matadors Face Big West Competition at the Triton Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Miranda Coleman

Katelyn Fairchild

Lindsey Garcia

Shannon Hovanesian

Madeleine Sanchez

Niki Van Vugt

Amy Yule