Feb. 3, 2010
BERKELEY, CALIF. -
The No. 4-ranked California women's water polo team, bolstered by stellar team defense, three goals from sophomore Emily Csikos and 11 saves from sophomore goalie Stephanie Peckham, stunned No. 3-ranked Hawaii, 7-4, Wednesday night in a key Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears are now 6-0 on the year and the Rainbow Wahines dropped to 4-1. Cal held Hawaii, a squad that placed fourth at the NCAA tournament last season, scoreless in the first 20 minutes of the match on the way to the decisive conference win.
The Bears were the only team to score in the first half, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals by Csikos. The sophomore from Calgary, Alberta scored the first goal of the match by bouncing the ball off the water past Hawaii goalie Serena Bredin. Csikos then added another goal with 25 seconds left in the opening period on a shot from beyond seven meters.
Cal padded its lead to 4-0 at the half on senior Julie Oreglia's goal with 7:14 in the second period, and senior Remy Champion's score through the arms of Bredin at the 5:21 mark of the second quarter.
Finally the Rainbow Wahines' Saara Majuri broke her team's scoring drought with a goal at 4:44 in the third period. However, Csikos continued the pressure on Hawaii with a goal with 2:10 left in the third period to give the Bears a 5-1 advantage. The two teams then shared goals the rest of the way as Cal continued to maintain its defensive pressure. Freshman Breda Vosters gave the Bears their sixth goal of the match at 5:39 in the fourth period and Oreglia notched her second goal of the contest with 58 seconds left in the match.
"We played great defense tonight, only allowing them one goal for a majority of the game," said Cal coach Richard Corso. "That is something I am really proud of. Hawaii has a lot of offensive weapons, yet we were able to control the tempo with our defense. We know we have people who can score on offense, but we always need to concentrate on defense in order to be successful."
Cal will next enter the challenging Stanford Invitational, Feb. 6-7 at the Avery Aquatics Center. The Bears open the tournament Saturday, Feb. 6 at 12 p.m. against No. 5-ranked UCLA. Later Saturday afternoon, Cal will battle No. 9 Arizona State at 5:15 p.m. On Sunday, Feb. 7, Cal opens the day against Hawaii at 9:15 a.m., and then according to prior results will either play in the seventh place match (12:45 p.m.), fifth place match (2 p.m.), third place match (3:15 p.m.) or the tournament championship (4:30 p.m.).
Hawaii: 0-0-2-2 --- 4
California: 2-2-1-2 --- 7
Hawaii Goals: Dagmar Genee 2, Monkia Eggens,
Saara Majuri
California Goals: Emily Csikos 3, Julie Oreglia 2
Breda Vosters, Remy Champion
Hawaii Saves: Serena Bredin 2
California Saves: Stephanie Peckham 11
