Friday, January 18
Santa Barbara, CA
12:15 PM
California State University at Northridge
vs
Azusa Pacific
Photo by: Paul Trafecanty
No. 18 CSUN Opens 2019 Campaign in Santa Barbara
1/17/2019 1:58:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
NORTHRIDGE, Calif---No. 18 CSUN Water Polo opens the 2019 season at the UCSB Winter Invite this weekend (Jan. 18-20) where the Matadors will compete against top teams in the country like UCLA and Michigan as they kick off their pursuit to win the Big West. CSUN begins the competition by taking on Azusa Pacific at 12:15 p.m. and No. 4 UCLA at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. The Matadors conclude the invite facing California Baptist and No.11 Michigan on the following day at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively.
"The first tournament is tough to have too many expectations, it's a good way for us to play some non conference games and see where we are at early in the season." Matt Warshaw, CSUN head coach said. With two games versus ranked opponents, CSUN has its hands full. "Playing against two top 10 opponents on opening weekend is the challenge," said Warshaw. "Anytime we can play the best of the best we embrace it and know that if we can hold our own with them it'll pay dividends when we get into Big West games.
The Matadors have three seniors returning in Lindsey Garcia, Charissa Dorn, and Daci Hughes. Garcia will look to lead her team on the defensive end, as out of all the returning players, she had the most steals of any Matador last season with 27 total. In her junior season, she posted career highs in matches (28), steals (27), earned ejections (14), and field blocks (4) She also collected 12 assists and 11 goals as a utility player.
CSUN lost three key offensive pieces from last year's team including top scorer Madeleine Sanchez (the Big West's all-time leading scorer), Katelyn Fairchild (netted 49 goals good for second on the team) and Paula Abellan Garcia who was fourth on last year's squad with 21 goals total.
"Maddie Sanchez did a lot for this program and last year's team but now the opportunity is wide open for some of our athletes to step up and fill the leadership roles, I'm anxious to see who will rise to the occasion," said Warshaw. "This year's team is built much differently than the previous two years."
One of the players that could take advantage of the open opportunity for leadership is transfer junior Tori Wilson. Wilson played two seasons with the nationally ranked Hartwick Hawks, recording 134 tallies and scoring 85 goals to go with 58 assists and 143 points in her sophomore season. She helped Hartwick finish with a No. 12 ranking following the 2018 season and led the Hawks to a pair of third-place finishes in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Tournament."Tori brings two years of Division-I experience and a competitiveness that can't be taught," said Warshaw.
Other players to look out for include Jennalyn Barthels, and Sara Dempsey, both of whom had "above average" training camps according to Warshaw. Barthels tallied new career highs last season in appearances (30), goals (9), assists (15), steals (12), earned ejections (9) and field blocks (9), and even scored against top-ranked Michigan, one of the Matadors' opponents this weekend. Dempsey, a sophomore this year, competed in 30 matches last season as just a freshman at attacker and tallied 10 goals, 11 steals, four assists and four blocks.
"This weekend we'd like to compete in all four games, get ourselves on film, spend the weekend together as a team and start the process of coming together as a unit and most importantly enjoy the process." Warshaw said. "It's been a long two weeks of training camp and we're all looking forward to playing the four games."Â
After the UCSB Winter Invite concludes, the Matadors will have two weekends off before competing at the Trition Invitational hosted by UC San Diego from February 9-10.
"The first tournament is tough to have too many expectations, it's a good way for us to play some non conference games and see where we are at early in the season." Matt Warshaw, CSUN head coach said. With two games versus ranked opponents, CSUN has its hands full. "Playing against two top 10 opponents on opening weekend is the challenge," said Warshaw. "Anytime we can play the best of the best we embrace it and know that if we can hold our own with them it'll pay dividends when we get into Big West games.
The Matadors have three seniors returning in Lindsey Garcia, Charissa Dorn, and Daci Hughes. Garcia will look to lead her team on the defensive end, as out of all the returning players, she had the most steals of any Matador last season with 27 total. In her junior season, she posted career highs in matches (28), steals (27), earned ejections (14), and field blocks (4) She also collected 12 assists and 11 goals as a utility player.
CSUN lost three key offensive pieces from last year's team including top scorer Madeleine Sanchez (the Big West's all-time leading scorer), Katelyn Fairchild (netted 49 goals good for second on the team) and Paula Abellan Garcia who was fourth on last year's squad with 21 goals total.
"Maddie Sanchez did a lot for this program and last year's team but now the opportunity is wide open for some of our athletes to step up and fill the leadership roles, I'm anxious to see who will rise to the occasion," said Warshaw. "This year's team is built much differently than the previous two years."
One of the players that could take advantage of the open opportunity for leadership is transfer junior Tori Wilson. Wilson played two seasons with the nationally ranked Hartwick Hawks, recording 134 tallies and scoring 85 goals to go with 58 assists and 143 points in her sophomore season. She helped Hartwick finish with a No. 12 ranking following the 2018 season and led the Hawks to a pair of third-place finishes in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Tournament."Tori brings two years of Division-I experience and a competitiveness that can't be taught," said Warshaw.
Other players to look out for include Jennalyn Barthels, and Sara Dempsey, both of whom had "above average" training camps according to Warshaw. Barthels tallied new career highs last season in appearances (30), goals (9), assists (15), steals (12), earned ejections (9) and field blocks (9), and even scored against top-ranked Michigan, one of the Matadors' opponents this weekend. Dempsey, a sophomore this year, competed in 30 matches last season as just a freshman at attacker and tallied 10 goals, 11 steals, four assists and four blocks.
"This weekend we'd like to compete in all four games, get ourselves on film, spend the weekend together as a team and start the process of coming together as a unit and most importantly enjoy the process." Warshaw said. "It's been a long two weeks of training camp and we're all looking forward to playing the four games."Â
After the UCSB Winter Invite concludes, the Matadors will have two weekends off before competing at the Trition Invitational hosted by UC San Diego from February 9-10.
~GoMatadors.com~
Players Mentioned
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Utility
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Attacker
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Attacker
/ Women's Water Polo
Utility
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Center
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Attacker
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Utility
/ Women's Water PoloA Conversation With Matt Warshaw
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