Santa Barbra, CA – The #20 Wagner (2-2) women's water polo team fell 12-9 to CSU Bakersfield and 8-4 to #7 Hawaii on the second day of the UC Santa Barbra Winter Invitational.

CSU Bakersfield (Score Sheet)

The Roadrunners jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scores from Ashley Paz and Jada Helberg within the first three and half minutes of action. Sophomore attacker Lacey Anderson (Thousand Oaks, CA/ Westlake) struck first for the Seahawks tallying a score with 2:01 remaining in the first stanza to cut the deficit to one. CSU Bakersfield's Katie Benson responded with a quick strike goal of her own to bring the Roadrunners lead to 3-1 after the first quarter.

Wagner would outscore CSU Bakersfield 3-2 in the second period. The senior connection of Lily Doerfler (Annapolis, MD/ Broadneck) and Megan Rodriguez (Danville, CA/ San Ramon Valley) hit for two scores as Doerfler was the beneficiary of two Rodriguez passes. Freshman Eric Hardy (Montreal, Quebec/ St. Thomas) delivered a goal in the second quarter as well as the scoreboard read 5-4 in favor of the Roadrunners at halftime.

CSU Bakersfield and Wagner played evenly throughout the third period with each team notching three goals in the quarter.  Hardy and Anderson each found the back of the net again while Kimberly Watson (Pointe-Claire, Quebec/ John Rennie) tallied early in the quarter off a Hardy assist. The Roadrunners held onto a one goal lead entering the fourth and final quarter.

Wagner tallied twice in the final period however it wasn't enough as CSU Bakersfield held on for the 12-9 victory. Watson scored her second goal of the contest in the fourth with senior co-captain Jess Lundgren (Queensland, Australia/ Mountain Creek) entering the scoring the column late in the game.

Junior goalie Emily Riddle (Edmonton, Alberta/ Dr. E.P. Scarlett) recorded six saves while Anderson wreaked havoc on the defensive end registering four steals. 

Hawaii (Score Sheet)

Hawaii opened up the scoring with an early steal and drive to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Wahine followed with two more unanswered scores in the opening stanza as Irene Gonzalez connected on a backhand skip shot and Femke Aan found the back of the net to bring the score to 3-0 in favor of Hawaii after the first period.

Second quarter play slowed slightly to begin as each team was held scoreless for the first three and half minutes of the period before Gonzalez would strike again for the Wahine.  The Seahawks entered the scoring column on a tally from Lundgren who was set up by Watson with 27 seconds left in the first half. Hawaii entered the half with a 4-1 advantage on the scoreboard.

Gonzalez notched her third goal of the night for Hawaii early in the third to put the Wahine up four. The Seahawks and Wahine would play to a 3-3 tie for the reminder of the game however the early deficit was too great for Wagner to overcome. 

Rodriguez connected on a strike with five seconds remaining in the third period off a feed from Watson on a man-up advantage. Watson later rattled the cage for a goal in the fourth quarter as did Doerfler to bring the final score to 8-4 in favor of Hawaii.

Riddle posted eight saves during the contest.

The Seahawks are back in action for the third and final day of the UCSB Winter Invite with games against #17 Long Beach State and #13 UC Santa Barbra. The Green & White square off with Long Beach State at 4:20 p.m. (EST) and compete versus the host school at 7:20 p.m. (EST).

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