#25 CSUN Faces Road Test at #3 Hawai'i

Saturday, March 23

Manoa, Hawaii

9:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

#3 Hawai'i

Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald

#25 CSUN Faces Road Test at #3 Hawai'i

3/20/2024 9:51:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---No. 25 CSUN Water Polo hits the road for a matchup with No. 3 Hawai'i on Saturday at 9 p.m. PT. Live stats will be provided for the match and a link is available at GoMatadors.com.

LAST TIME OUT
CSUN dropped a Big West match to eighth-ranked UC Irvine last Friday at Matador Pool by a 15-8 score. The Anteaters jumped to a 5-1 lead over the Matadors through eight minutes. CSUN would outscore UCI 3-2 in the second quarter and eventually pull to within 7-5 early in the third quarter, but the Anteaters took control in the second half and outscored the Matadors 8-4 over the last two periods. Helena Sandhagen and Anna Pal had two goals apiece to lead the team while Meghan Lopez finished with seven saves in front of the cage.

BIG WEST FORECAST
CSUN slipped to 16-11 overall and 0-2 in Big West play with its loss to UC Irvine. The Matadors will play their final five regular season games against Big West competition. After Saturday's match at Hawai'i, CSUN will host its final two home matches against Long Beach State (March 30) and UC Santa Barbara (April 5). The final two regular season matches will be played at Cal State Fullerton (April 7) and UC Davis (April 13).

TOP PERFORMERS
Dorottya Telek continues to lead The Big West with 83 goals scored this season. Anna Pal is ranked third on the goals list with 54 while Helena Sandhagen is tied for fifth place with 41 tallies. Pal is also the assist leader in the conference with 57 and points with 111. Other top scorers include Shelby Hovanesian with 31 goals to go with 42 assists while Kianna Melvin has 18 goals in her first CSUN season.

Meghan Lopez is currently in second place on the conference saves list with 169. Hovanesian tops the team with 25 steals while Jessica Matkovich has a team-best 10 field blocks.

RECORD BOOK WATCH
Telek, who broke the school's career goals record on Feb. 24, has pushed her all-time mark to 261 goals this season. She is also up to second place on CSUN's career exclusions drawn list with 254 as she is 47 away from breaking that record too.

Pal has moved up to seventh place in school history on the assists list with 137. With 10 more helpers this season, Pal would move into the top-five in program history. In goal, Lopez has climbed into third place in career saves with 781 and six off the pace from sole possession of second place.

SCOUTING HAWAI'I
The Rainbow Wahine hold a 13-3 overall record and 1-0 mark in Big West play. The team is coming off an impressive win over fifth-ranked USC last Saturday by a 9-8 final. Prior to taking on CSUN, Hawai'i hosts Cal State Fullerton on Friday. Hawai'i has finished as the Big West runner up in each of the last two seasons while the Rainbow Wahine went 21-6 overall in 2023. Five Hawai'i players have scored 20 or more goals this season with Alba Bonamusa Boix topping the squad with 31 goals. Lucia Gomez de la Puente is second on the team with 30 goals to go with 26 assists. Daisy Logtens has racked up 132 saves to go with a 8.61 goals-against-average in front of the cage.

Series History: Hawai'i leads CSUN 20-4 in the all-time series with wins in nine straight. Last season, CSUN dropped a pair of matches to Hawai'i including an 18-7 decision in the Big West Championship first round. The Matadors' last win in the series was in 2015 by a 7-6 score.

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