April 6, 2001

BERKELEY, CA - The No. 4-ranked women's water polo team (14-7, 7-3 MPSF) defeated the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 12-4, today at the Spieker Aquatics Complex, in the Golden Bear's last home match of the regular season. Cal honored its seven academic seniors before the match began with a short introduction about each player, a fitting tribute to their hard work and dedication to the program.

For senior day, Cal started all seven seniors: Heather Petri, Amy Beuhler, Beth Irwin, Chris Lane, Julie Arnold, Shelly Johnston, and in front of the cage, Fana Fuqua. To open the contest, UC Santa Barbara player Kelley Tiffany got the Gauchos on the board on their first possession of the game, scoring after stealing a Bear turnover. Cal quickly responded, as the Bears tied the score on a counter attack by Beth Irwin one minute later. Irwin would score again in the first, before Laura Graham shot one past UCSB goalie Yvonne Conard with 1:31 remaining.

With 4 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Gaucho's Teresa Gorbett fired a shot from near mid-court, which hit the upright and bounced past Fuqua. After getting the possession with only four seconds remaining, Cal freshman Ericka Lorenz fired a bullet from behind the mid-court line which also found the back of the cage leaving a tenth of a second on the clock and giving Cal a 4-2 lead at the end of the quarter.

Despite a fifteen-minute delay due to technical difficulties with the shot clock, the Bears picked up their defensive pressure in the second quarter, while also tallying three goals to the Gaucho's none. Julia Cesnik started Cal off with a dexterous shot from 2-meters, switching the ball from her right to her left hand in an effortless move that found the back of the cage. The Bears would capitalize again from the 2-meter spot, as Lorenz would fire her second of three goals past Conard on an accurate backhand shot. UC Santa Barbara would dump the ball in their next three consecutive possessions, unable to set up any offense. Junior Brenna Fleener scored the Bears last goal of the quarter on a fast break with 2:25 remaining. Fana Fuqua ended the half with five of her game-high 12 saves.

Cesnik and Lorenz would open the second half with goals on two consecutive possessions, however the Gauchos tallied two goals of their own in the quarter. For UCSB, Tiffany would score her second of her team-leading two goals on a 6-on-5 possession, before junior Mary Blumberg scored with under a minute to play.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Bears and to junior Julie Arnold. Arnold would score all three of the Bears goals in the quarter, while Fuqua tallied three more saves to shut out the Gauchos in the final stanza.

The Bears head to Pacific next week, when they will play the Tigers at 12 noon, Saturday, April 14.

Final Results

		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
California	4	3	2	3	12
UCSB		2	0	2	0	4

Goals
California-Julie Arnold 3, Ericka Lorenz 3, Beth Irwin 2,
Julia Cesnik 2, Laura Graham, Brenna Fleener
UCSB-Kelley Tiffany 2, Teresa Gorbett, Mary Blumberg

Saves
California-Fana Fuqua 12
UCSB-Yvonne Conard 5