April 10, 2005

BERKLEY, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara women's water polo team was defeated by the Cal Bears, 10-9 in overtime, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkley. UCSB was lead by Dana Saign who had three goals in the loss. The Gauchos season record fell to 13-9 overall and 4-5 in the MPSF, while Cal improved to 13-8 overall and 4-5 in the MPSF.

The Bears grabbed the lead in the first quarter with three goals scored in the first five minutes of play. As the clock wound down on the quarter, Dana Saign found the back of the cage following a pass from Aimee Stachowski with 13 seconds remaining.

Cal fought back early in the second with a 6-on-5 goal from Brittani Llorente with 5:22 remaining. The teams would trade goals before the Gauchos scored two in the final minute of the first half cutting the Cal lead to 5-4.

Cal started the scoring again in the third quarter with a quick goal at the 6:25 mark. The Gauchos returned the favor with a goal supplied by ZiZi Clark following a long pass from goalie Christy Medigovich. The final goal of the quarter came from Cal's Katie Card on a break-away with 2:40 remaining on the clock.

Dana Saign was quick to shorten the Cal lead with her third goal of the game tallied with 6:17 left in the fourth quarter. Cal answered back a minute later with a goal from Allison Gold. UCSB's Mica Bell used a player-up advantage to once again cut the Cal lead to 6-5. Cal's Elise Windes added the last goal for the Bears in regulation play at the 3:02 mark, but that left plenty of time for a Gaucho comeback. In the final two minutes of regulation play Jennifer D'Anna and Becky Laird each scored to tie the game at 9-9.

Both teams went scoreless in the first three minute overtime period with each goalie knocking down two potential goals. The game winning goal came with 2:33 remaining in the second overtime period on a lob shot provided by Cal's Lauren McGee. The final score put Cal over UCSB 10-9.

This game marks the seventh overtime match this season for UCSB. The Gauchos record for overtime games stands at 3-4.

UCSB will return home to play Hawai'i on Thursday, April 14 at 5 p.m. The game will be played at Campus Pool.

Team               1     2     3     4    OT1    OT2    Total
UC Santa Barbara   1     3     1     4     0      0       9
California         3     2     2     2     0      1      10
Goals
UCSB: Dana Saign -3, ZiZi Clark -2, Aimee Stachowski,
Jennifer D'Anna, Mica Bell, Becky Laird
Cal: Windes -2, Gold -2, Llorente -2, Card,
Allison, McGee, Hayes
Goalie Saves
UCSB: Christy Medigovich -8
Cal: de Colombi -10