#24 Matadors Wrap Up Big West Play with #9 UC Santa Barbara

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

No. 24 CSUN Water Polo (10-18, 0-4 BWC) concludes its Big West schedule with a road match at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (14-11, 2-1 BWC) at Campus Pool on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.

The Matadors look to snap a four-game skid and earn their first victory in conference play on Saturday against the Gauchos. Despite the possibility of moving into a fifth place tie with UC Davis in the conference standings, the Matadors are firmly locked into the sixth seed for the upcoming Big West Conference Tournament after losing to the Aggies last Sunday. CSUN will face the third seed in the opening round of the conference tournament.

Last weekend, CSUN dropped both matches at Matador Pool to Big West foes including a 17-11 defeat to Hawai'i and a 10-9 setback to UC Davis on Senior Day. Sophomore Shannon Hovanesian recorded a hat trick against the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday while Katelyn Fairchild and Alexis Elias had two goals apiece. On Sunday, the Matadors battled the Aggies in an evenly matched contest. Both sides entered the fourth quarter tied at 7-7 but UC Davis scored three-straight goals to start the fourth and held off a late CSUN rally in the final seconds. Madeleine Sanchez tallied three on the afternoon versus UC Davis and McKenzie Pollei picked three of her own in the match.

With four goals last weekend, Sanchez pushed her season total to 66 on the season, which is the second most in the Big West Conference. Averaging 2.36 goals per match, Sanchez has scored in 10 of the last 11 games including tallying 30 over that span. In the record books, Sanchez sits in seventh place all-time for goals in a season at CSUN and she is 14 away from the top spot. While she has displayed strong offensive play this season, Sanchez is also tops on the team in assists with 41 and second in steals with 53.

In Big West play, Sanchez leads the team with nine goals while sophomores Amy Yule and Katelyn Fairchild, and juniors McKenzie Pollei and Alexis Elias have four apiece. After scoring just 10 goals through the first two matches against the likes of UC Irvine and Long Beach State, the Matadors found more success on the offensive end against Top 10 teams Hawai'i and UC Davis, scoring 20 goals in the two contests.

The Matadors own a 16-12 all-time record against the Gauchos including winning three of the last four meetings. Last season, CSUN earned an 8-6 win at home in the teams' only matchup. Despite a solid record against UCSB as of late, the Matadors have dropped three-straight road matches and have not picked up a victory on the road in the series since 2010.

On the season, UC Santa Barbara boasts a 14-11 record and a 2-1 conference mark. The team has won two-straight including defeating UC Davis, 7-6, in sudden death overtime last Saturday and edging Hawai'i, 7-5 on Sunday. With 245 goals as a team, UCSB is first in the Big West Conference in scoring as the Gauchos average 9.80 goals per game on the season. Senior Lauren Martin leads the team in scoring with 43 tallies through 25 matches while junior Taylor Shore has posted 39. In front of the cage, senior MacKenzie Brokaw has amassed 803 minutes at the goalkeeper position. Brokaw leads all Big West goalies with 214 saves to go along with an 8.00 goals-against-average.

#24 Matadors Wrap Up Big West Play with #9 UC Santa Barbara

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Players Mentioned

Alexis Elias

Katelyn Fairchild

Shannon Hovanesian

McKenzie Pollei

Madeleine Sanchez

Amy Yule