March 24, 2005

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Despite fighting back from a 4-1 deficit on Thursday night, the eighth-ranked UC Santa Barbara women's water polo team had its four-match winning streak snapped at Stanford, 6-5.

After a scoreless first period, the Cardinal outscored UCSB in the second quarter, 4-1. Gaucho Dana Saign scored her team's lone first-half goal to make the score 3-1 Cardinal, but Stanford's Megan May tallied the final goal of the first half with seven seconds remaining in the stanza. The Cardinal led at the half, 4-1.

Led by goalkeeper Christy Medigovich, UCSB played an outstanding second half. After Stanford's Hannah Luber scored to make the score 5-1, the Gauchos rallied.

Jennifer D'Anna, who notched a pair of goals, scored inside the 5:00 mark in the third quarter to make the score 5-2. Then, with less than 1:00 to go, Alaina Whitaker scored her team-leading 28th goal of the season, cutting the gap to 5-3 Cardinal entering the fourth period.

The Gauchos put-on heavy pressure in the fourth quarter. A lob-shot by Laurel Champion gave Stanford a 6-3 edge at the 4:00 mark. Aimee Stachowski cut the lead to 6-4 with about 3:00 remaining, and then D'Anna scored her 20th goal of the campaign inside the final minute to make it 6-5, and neither team scored again.

Medigovich finished the match with seven saves, giving her 64 on the year.

With the win, the Cardinal is now 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Gauchos, now 11-6 overall and 2-3 in the MPSF, will continue their four-games in four-days run, when they travel to UC Davis for a match on Friday, March 25.

Team                 1   2   3   4   T
UC Santa Barbara     0   1   2   2   5
Stanford             0   4   1   1   6
Goals
UCSB: Jennifer D'Anna - 2, Alaina Whitaker,
 
Aimee Stachowski, Dana Saign
Stanford: Champion, Riss, H. Luber, Hansen, May, Hewko
Goalkeeper Saves
UCSB: Christy Medigovich-7
Stanford: McColl-8