No. 20 CSUN Opens Up Home Schedule Friday

Friday, March 23

Northridge, CA

12:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

#25 Cal State East Bay

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

No. 20 CSUN Opens Up Home Schedule Friday

3/22/2018 11:33:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---No. 20 CSUN Water Polo (13-11) opens up its home portion of the season this weekend with three matches at Matador Pool. CSUN faces No. 25 Cal State East Bay in its home opener on Friday at noon. The Matadors will then host No. 12 Hartwick at 11 a.m. before taking on Redlands at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available for each contest.

After taking last week off, the Matadors head into this weekend with a two-match winning streak. CSUN dropped its Big West opener at UC Irvine on March 10 (13-3) before heading to San Diego to compete in the Aztec Invitational. The Matadors fell to UC San Diego (8-3) to open the invite but bounced back with wins over Harvard (10-8) and Bucknell (13-3). With the win over No. 20 Harvard, the Matadors notched their third Top 25 victory of the season.

Senior attacker Madeleine Sanchez continues to inch closer to breaking the Matadors' all-time career scoring record. Posting seven goals at the Aztec Invite, Sanchez sits at 210 career goals. Sanchez is fourth in Matador history in career goals, and just a goal shy of catching third-place Lindsy Duncan (2011-14). Ahead of Duncan, Sanchez would tie Marisa Young (2012-15) for second all time with seven more goals. Sanchez needs 13 goals to break Allison Brookes' (2005-08) all time mark of 222 career goals.

In the Big West, Sanchez is fourth in goals with 35 to go with 34 steals and 25 assists. Senior Shannon Hovanesian is tops in the conference in assists with 29 while she has also collected 35 steals and 24 goals. Fellow senior Katelyn Fairchild has the most steals on the team (39), the second-most goals (33) and third-most assists (21). Senior Paula Abellan Garcia (17 goals) and sophomore Madasonne Butler (16 goals) have also notched double-digit goals this season for the Matadors.

In net, senior Niki Van Vugt leads the Big West in saves with 135 to go along with a 7.24 goals-against average. Van Vugt has also averaged 10.18 saves per game.

With two victories at the Aztec Invite, the Matadors improved to 13-11 this season and have already eclipsed its entire win total from last season. The Matadors could post their most wins in a season since 2014 with three more victories this year.

The Matadors are 7-0 all time against Cal State East Bay including picking up wins in each of the last two seasons. CSUN defeated the Pioneers 16-6 last season behind three goals apiece from Hovanesian and Katia Andon-Mateos. The Pioneers have not visited Matador Pool since the 2003 season. CSUN is 7-3 against Hartwick in the all-time series including record a 2-0 mark at Matador Pool. The Matadors and Hawks squared off at the Triton Invitational last season as the Hartwick picked up a narrow 8-7 victory. The Matadors hold an 8-1 lead in the head-to-head series with Redlands, winning the last eight meetings. A total of 12 different Matadors hit the back of the net against the Bulldogs last season in a 15-5 win at Redlands.

A Closer Look at Cal State East Bay
The Pioneers are 10-7 this season after knocking off Redlands on Wednesday (16-7). Cal State East Bay will take on La Verne on Thursday in a road match before taking on the Matadors. Competing in the Western Water Polo Association, the Pioneers are 2-1 in league play with victories over Fresno Pacific (14-7) and Cal State Monterey Bay (13-8). Sophomore Auriel Bill leads the team with 28 goals, 27 assists and 25 steals. Last season, Bill was named All-WWPA First Team and Newcomer of the Year. Reigning WWPA Player of the Week, freshman Adrien Van Dyke has recorded 20 goals to go with 14 steals. In front of the cage, junior Makenna Nation has amassed 105 saves and a 9.31 GAA.

A Closer Look at Hartwick
The 12th-ranked Hawks are 19-4 season including 5-0 in road matches. Hartwick has notched three Top 15 wins on the year as well as a win over No. 10 Indiana on March 3. The team went 3-0 at last week's Hartwick Invite, collecting victories over Saint Francis (24-18), Utica (18-3) and Mercyhurst (13-8). A two-time ACWPC All-American, senior Zsofia Polak has scored a team-leading 68 goals to go with 47 assists this season. Sophomore Lena Kotanchyan also has 62 goals with 34 steals. Freshman goalkeeper Hannah Edwards has collected 59 saves and an 11.56 GAA in over 251 minutes of action.

A Closer Look at Redlands
A NCAA Division III team, the Bulldogs compete out of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Redlands fell to 5-14 on the season after dropping a Wednesday match to Cal State East Bay 16-7. The Bulldogs will have a busy Saturday as they will travel to Occidental at 11 a.m. before facing the Matadors later that day. The team is 3-3 in SCIAC play this season. In 2017, junior Kolby Kahahawai posted a team-high 50 goals for the Bulldogs.