No. 20 CSUN Falls at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, 9-5

Saturday, April 7

Santa Barbara, CA

12:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

#17 UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Samuel Ware

No. 20 CSUN Falls at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, 9-5

4/7/2018 3:54:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.---No. 20 CSUN Water Polo (15-14, 0-3 BWC) dropped a 9-5 decision at No. 17 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon at Campus Pool. Five Matadors hit the back of the net including senior Madeleine Sanchez who crept closer to breaking the team's all-time career scoring record. Senior Niki Van Vugt had another strong day in front of the cage, racking up 11 saves in 32 minutes of action.

Sanchez notched her 221st career goal, putting her a tally shy of tying CSUN's all-time scoring leader Allison Brookes (2005-08).

The teams battled in a scoreless tie for the opening minutes of the first period until Sarah Snyder put the Gauchos on the scoreboard at the 5:35 mark. Snyder would carry UCSB in the period, scoring three of her four goals in the eight-minute session. Katelyn Fairchild collected the Matadors' first goal at the 3:37 mark, and Shannon Hovanesian struck the back of the net in the final minute but the Matadors trailed 4-2 after one quarter.

CSUN fell behind 6-2 near the midway mark of the second period before cutting the lead in half. Amy Yule scored off a feed from Sanchez to cut into the lead. Sanchez then notched her team-leading 46th goal of the season at the 2:35 mark. Just 38 seconds later, Sara Dempsey got into the scoring act to trim the UCSB lead to 7-5. However, the Gauchos took a three-goal lead into intermission on a strike from Mollie Simmons with under two minutes on the clock.

The second half would be a defensive struggle for both sides. Van Vugt registered three saves in the third period but the Gauchos added to their lead on Snyder's fourth goal at the 4:21 mark. In the fourth period, Van Vugt continued to be a presence in front of the cage, picking up three more saves including stopping a penalty shot from Kate Pipkin.

On the flip side, the Matadors could not find the netting in the second half. CSUN earned three exclusions in the final eight minutes but the Gauchos were able to survive each power play. Goalkeeper Becca Beck stopped a penalty shot from Sanchez with under six minutes left to go to help secure her team's lead.

Sanchez finished with three assists in the match to go with a steal and a field block. Ashlee Sellung and Hovanesian each added two steals.

The Matadors return home for their final two regular season matches next weekend. CSUN will host UC Davis next Saturday (April 14) before celebrating Senior Day against Hawai'i on Sunday. Both matches will start at noon.

CSUN - 2-3-0-0 = 5
UCSB - 4-4-1-0 = 9

CSUN goal scorers: Sanchez (46), Fairchild (43), Hovanesian (28), Yule (15), Dempsey (9)
UCSB goal scorers: S. Snyder 4, Kreiser, Simmons, Pipkin, Selin, Moran

CSUN saves: Van Vugt 11 (174)
UCSB saves: Buck 6, K. Snyder 4