No. 20 CSUN Travels to UCSB Saturday

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---No. 20 CSUN Water Polo (15-13, 0-2 BWC) looks for its first win in conference play this weekend as the Matadors visit No. 17 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday in a Big West match at noon. Live stats will be available for the match.

The Matadors dropped a tough 10-8 overtime decision at Long Beach State last Saturday. CSUN trailed by two goals in the second quarter before fighting back to take a 7-6 lead into the fourth. The 49ers rallied to even the match up in the final period to force overtime. The Matadors pulled to within 9-8 in the second overtime session on a goal from senior Katelyn Fairchild but the 49ers hung on down the stretch and scored a late goal to pull off the victory.

Fairchild scored three goals against Long Beach State while seniors Madeleine Sanchez and Shannon Hovanesian added two goals apiece. In front of the cage, senior Niki Van Vugt compiled 14 saves.

With her two goals last Saturday, Sanchez inched closer to breaking the Matadors' all-time career scoring record. Sanchez now stands at 220 career goals, which are three short of surpassing Allison Brookes' (2005-08) record of 222 tallies. With five more goals, Sanchez would also become the all-time leader in career goals in Big West Conference history.

Second in the Big West in scoring, Sanchez leads the Matadors with 45 goals, followed closely by Fairchild with 42 and Hovanesian with 27. Sophomore Madasonne Butler and senior Paula Abellan Garcia has also collected 20 goals on the year. In the assists department, Hovanesian is tops in the Big West with 35 while Sanchez has 30 and Fairchild has dished out 25. Three Matadors occupy the top three Big West spots in steals as Fairchild is first with 44, Hovanesian is a close second with 41 and Sanchez is third with 40.

Van Vugt leads the Big West in saves with 163 to go with a career-best 7.17 goals-against average.

The Matadors hold a narrow 18-16 edge over the Gauchos in the all-time series. CSUN played UCSB four times last season with each team claiming two victories. In the teams' Big West match up in 2017, the Matadors came from behind to upend the Gauchos 9-8 on Senior Day. The two teams squared off in a fifth-place game at the Big West Conference Tournament last season where CSUN came out on top 5-3. CSUN has not won at UCSB since 2010 as it comes into the weekend with a five-match road losing streak in the series.

A Closer Look at UC Santa Barbara
The 17th-ranked Gauchos are 13-11 this season and 0-2 in Big West play. Last week, UCSB defeated Virginia Military Institute 12-3 but fell to Stanford 17-2 and to UC Irvine 7-2. The team dropped its Big West opener at Long Beach State by a narrow 6-5 margin on March 10.

The trio consisting of sophomore Sarah Snyder and juniors Kate Pipkin and Sarah Kreiser have led the team offensively this season. As of March 13, Snyder has 38 goals to go with 12 steals while Pipkins has 34 goals and Kreiser has tallied 32. Pipkins is the team's top play maker with 27 assists. Eight total Gauchos have scored at least 10 goals on the season as the team is shooting 36.1 percent from the field. In front of the cage, sophomore Kenzi Snyder is posting a 5.98 GAA with 127 saves in over 460 minutes.

No. 20 CSUN Travels to UCSB Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Paula Abellan Garcia

Madasonne Butler

Katelyn Fairchild

Shannon Hovanesian

Madeleine Sanchez

Niki Van Vugt

California State University Northridge Athletics