April 26, 2009

HONOLULU - The No. 5 California women's water polo team dropped an 8-7 decision to No. 3-seed UCLA on Sunday evening in Hawaii. With the loss, the Golden Bears finish in fourth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex.

"Our improvement over the past four weeks, during the whole season for that matter, has been significant," Cal head coach Richard Corso said. "Our players are playing at a very, very high level right now. I look forward to keep improving throughout the NCAA Tournament."

UCLA opened the first quarter with four goals, with Katie Rulon and Priscilla Orozco scoring two each. Cal answered with three goals in the first quarter, with Camille Hewko scoring two goals and Emily Csikos one.

California's Lauren Barron scored the only goal in the second quarter as the match was tied 4-4 at the break.

UCLA came back in the third quarter to take a 7-6 lead after scoring three goals. Anne Belden scored two for the Bruins and Tanya Gandy added one. Cal received goals by Meghan Corso and Stephanie Schnugg in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Cal's Emily Csikos tied the game with three minutes remaining, but UCLA came back with a goal by Gandy with under two minutes left in the game to take the 8-7 lead.

Score by period 1 2 3 4 -
California 3 1 2 1 - 7
UCLA 4 0 3 1 - 8

California goals: Emily Csikos 2, Camille Hewko 2, Lauren Barron 1, Meghan Corso 1, Stephanie Schnugg 1
UCLA goals: Katie Rulon 2, Priscilla Orozco 2, Anne Belden 2, Tanya Gandy 2 Saves
California saves: Stephanie Peckham 10
UCLA saves: Brittany Fullen 5