Matadors to Play Four Matches at Tina Finali Tournament

Friday, February 25

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

10:30 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

Fresno Pacific

Photo by: Will Navarro

Matadors to Play Four Matches at Tina Finali Tournament

2/24/2022 12:02:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---No. 23 CSUN Water Polo (3-4, 0-1 Big West) returns to the road to play four matches at the Tina Finali Memorial Tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran starting Friday. On day one of the event, the Matadors face Fresno Pacific at 10:30 a.m. before taking on Chapman at 3:30 p.m. CSUN wraps up its stay at the tournament with Saturday matches against Cal State Monterey Bay at 10:30 a.m. and No. 22 LIU at 2:15 p.m. Cal Lutheran will stream all four of CSUN's matches while live stats will also be provided. All links can be found at the CSUN women's water polo schedule page.

The Matadors opened up Big West play as well as their home portion of their schedule against seventh-ranked UC Irvine last Saturday and would fall 19-5. The Anteaters blitzed the Matadors at the start, scoring the game's first seven goals and never looked back in the contest. Anna Pal led the Matadors with two goals in defeat while Jessica Matkovich, Helena Sandhagen and Valeria Martinez also hit the back of the net. Tatum Scarry contributed two assists in the match. In net, Piper McCulloch and Meghan Lopez had five saves apiece.

CSUN's home match against UC Irvine on Saturday was the program's first at Matador Pool since Feb. 29, 2020, a span of 720 days.

Heading into the weekend, Dorottya Telek leads the team in goals scored (20), assists (10) and points (30) as the Hungarian native has shot 60.6 percent from the field. Pal is now up to 13 goals and nine assists while Sandhagen and Kylee Jansen have eight goals apiece. Lopez has a team-best 32 saves in front of the cage to go with a 12.62 goals-against-average.

After opening Big West competition last week, the Matadors will play six consecutive matches against non-conference teams. CSUN returns to Big West competition when it visits UC San Diego on March 5. The Matadors return home on Friday, March 11 for another Big West match-up with UC Santa Barbara.

A Look at Fresno Pacific
Playing out of the Western Water Polo Association, Division II Fresno Pacific has gone 1-8 this season with its only victory coming against Redlands (20-6) on Jan. 29. Last week, the Sunbirds went 0-3 at the Fresno State Invite, falling to ranked teams Fresno State (21-5), Long Beach State (20-5) and San Jose State (21-1). Fresno Pacific was picked to finish third in the WWPA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Sunbirds are led by returning All-American Amy Zaninovich who scored 13 goals in nine matches last season. The Matadors are 5-0 all-time against Fresno Pacific and last won on Jan. 31, 2020 by a 12-6 margin.

A Look at Chapman
Division III Chapman plays out of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Panthers are 4-0 this season after opening up with wins over Wittenburg (20-9), Macalester (12-5), Augustana (15-10) and Carthage (17-6) last week. The team played seven matches last season, going 2-5. The Panthers' Camille Chiang earned All-American honors last season after scoring 18 goals. CSUN is 10-0 all-time against Chapman, winning last on Feb. 19, 2020 by a 16-7 score.

A Look at Cal State Monterey Bay
Also playing out of the WWPA, the Otters are 1-6 this season with their lone win being a Division I triumph over Santa Clara (11-8) on Jan. 29. Last week saw Cal State Monterey Bay fall four times to likes of San Jose State (14-5), Brown (13-8), Marist (14-9) and Santa Clara (12-4). The Otters did not play any matches in 2021. The combination of Olivia Centis and Catalina Gillis have 10 goals apiece this season. The Matadors are 6-0 against Cal State Monterey Bay in team history with CSUN's last win being a 14-9 victory on Feb. 3, 2017.

A Look at LIU
The 22nd-ranked LIU Sharks are 5-4 on the season after dropping two of three games last week at the Princeton Invitational. The Sharks had a pair of narrow losses to Princeton (17-16) and Harvard (9-8) before picking up a 14-9 win over Mount St. Mary's last weekend. LIU won the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title and went 7-0 in 2021. The team was tabbed to finish third in the MAAC this season. Paola Dominguez, a MAAC Rookie of the Year in 2021, has 26 goals this season. CSUN won the only meeting against LIU in team history on Feb. 29, 2020 by a 13-9 margin at Matador Pool.

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