2011 Women's Water Polo

TRITONS WIN TITLE; SEVENTH AT NCAAs

#2 UC San Diego 13, #1 LMU 11

UC San Diego, winners of the 2011 WWPA Women’s Championship, finished the 2011 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., with a 15-9 win over Iona in the seventh place game on Sunday, May 5. UC San Diego finishes the season at 18-20 overall as they fell to Cal 13-5 in the first round and to Indiana, 11-8, in the consolation semifinals. Stanford went on to defeat Cal, 9-5, to win the national title To earn the trip, UCSD overcame deficits of 9-7 and then 10-8, taking an 11-10 lead late. After Kimberly Benedetti scored her fifth goal of the match to tie it, the Tritons scored two more. MVP Hanalei Crowell scored the game winner with 1:59 to play and Katherine Beiehle tacked on the final goal.

• NCAA Bracket • Box Score • Photos • Video • All-Tourney Team

3rd Place: #3 Santa Clara 7, #5 CSUEB 4

Santa Clara scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to overcome a 4-3 deficit to win third place in the WWPA Championships. In a game that featured eight five-meter penalty opportunities, Caitlin Espe led SCU with three goals. Whitney Bell had a pair for CSUEB.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

5th Place: #4 Colorado St. 16, #6 Sonoma St. 6

Four Rams had three or more goals as Colorado State scored five goals in each of the firt two quarters to lead 10-2 at the break and coast to a fifth place finish. Ali Pavlik had four goals to lead the rams while Jessica Stansfield had three to pace Sonoma St.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

7th Place: #8 CSUMB 12, #7 CSUB 10 (ot)

Nikki Smart scored two of her five goals in the fourth quarter, including one with just nine seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 10-10 and send it to overtime. Jackie Walters then scored with 1:19 on the clock in the first overtime frame to lift Cal State Monterey Bay to a 12-10 overtime win to take seventh. Jessica Browning had three goals for CSUB.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Day Two - Saturday, April 30:

Game 07 - Semifinal 1: #2 UC San Diego 9, #3 Santa Clara 7

Kirsten Bates and Katherine Biehle scored back-to-back goals to start the fourth quarter to break a 6-6 tie and lift UC San Diego to a 9-7 win over Santa Clara. Bates finished with four goals to lift UCSD to the title game for the second straight year. Santa Clara had scored the final two goals of the third period to tie it at 6-6. Claire Eadington had three goals for the Broncos.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 08 - Semifinal 2: #1 LMU 14, #5 CS East Bay 7

The Lions scored the first nine goals of the game to coast to the title game for the 11th straight year. The Lions led 12-2 after three in a game that featured 23 exclusions, 14 on LMU. Erin Manke scored three goals, giving her seven in two games as 10 different Lions scored. Claire Pierce had three for CSUEB.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 06: #7 CS Bakersfield 12, #9 CS San Bernardino 11

Tyalor Hanson and Sam Shead scored three goals each as Cal State Bakersfield built a 4-1 lead and then held off a CSUSB rally to advance to the consolation semifinals. Jasmin Duran scored with 1:18 to play to cut CSUB’s lead to 12-11 and the Coyotes had one more chance at the tie, but the shot was high over the cage.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 09 - #4 Colorado St. 10, #8 CS Monterey Bay 7

Colorado State scored three straight goals in the first period to take a two goal lead and would hang on down the stretch as the lead would never grow more than two. CSUMB could never get the equalizer as CSU scored the final two goals of the game for the largest margin of the game. Ali Pavlik scored four goals for CSU, while Nikki Smart scored four for CSUMB.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 10 - #6 Sonoma St. 7, #7 CS Bakersfield 6 (ot)

Jessica Stansfield scored with 29 seconds left in the second overtime to lift Sonoma State to a 7-6 overtime win. Stansfield had scored with 17 seconds left in regulation to give Sonoma St. a 5-4 lead but Jessica Browning tied it with eight seconds left of CSUB. Stansfield finished with four goals.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Day One Results • Friday, April 29:

Game 01: #8 CS Monterey Bay 11, #9 CS San Bernardino 2

CSUMB goalie Christine Vournas makes 11 saves while Katie Sowul and Nikki Smart score four goals each to lead the Otters to championship bracket.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 02: #5 CS East Bay 10, #4 Colorado St. 5

Liz Warren scored two quick goals and Claire Pierce led CSUEB with four total as the Pioneers used an early 4-0 lead to pull away from the Rams and advance to semifinals. Jayme Pekarske had eight saves.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 03: #3 Santa Clara 7, #6 Sonoma St. 4

Santa Clara scored four unanswered, including three straight to start the second half, to come from behind to advance to semifinals. Wren White had 10 saves while Caitlin Espe and Taylor Harkins scored two goals each.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 04: #2 UC San Diego 11, #7 CS Bakersfield 7

After trailing 2-1 early, UCSD scored six of the next seven goals to take a 7-3 lead midway through the third quarter to pull away. Tala Majaj came up with 14 saves and Sarah Lizotte had three goals, two in the decisive run, to lead the Tritons to the semifinals.

• Box Score • Photos • Video

Game 05: #1 LMU 15, #8 CS Monterey Bay 3

The top-seeded Lions scored the first four goals of the game and led 7-1 at the break as they never looked back. Erin Manke had four goals and Player of the Year Kimberly Benedetti had three to pace the Lions.

•Box Score • Photos • Video

2011 WWPA

Women’s Water Polo Honors

Player of the Year:

Kimberly Benedetti (Jr., 2M) – LMU

Newcomer of the Year:

Claire Eadington (Fr., UTL) – Santa Clara

Coach of the Year:

Kyle Witt - LMU

First-Team All-WWPA:

Kimberly Benedetti (Jr., 2M) - LMU

Hanalei Crowell (Sr., UTL) - UC San Diego

Casey Flacks (Jr., DR) - LMU

Taylor Harkins (Sr., DR) - Santa Clara

Ali Pavlik (Sr., ATT) - Colorado State

Megan Pezzolla (So., GK) – CS Bakersfield

Claire Pierce (So., UTL) - Cal State East Bay

Second-Team All-WWPA:

Kirsten Bates (Jr., 2MD) - UC San Diego

Jessica Browning (So., 2M) - CS Bakersfield

Bryanna Burns (Sr., GK) – CS San Bernardino

Caitlin Espe (Sr., 2MD) - Santa Clara

Erin Manke (So., DR) - LMU

Orsi Nadasdy (Sr., CTR) - Colorado State

Nikki Smart (Jr., ATT) - CS Monterey Bay

Honorable Mention All-WWPA:

Mary Ann Campos (Sr., DR) - LMU

Laura Espinosa (Jr., 2M) - Santa Clara

Taylor Hanson (Fr., DR) - CS Bakersfield

Kelsey Lowy (Sr., ATT) - Sonoma State

Felicia Orozco (Sr., UTL) - UC San Diego

Jayme Pekarske (Jr., GK) – CS East Bay

Misty Vu (So., UTL) - CS San Bernardino

WWPA All-Freshman Team

Melissa Bartow (2MD) – UC San Diego

Claire Eadington (UTL) – Santa Clara

Sarah Grunberger (UTL) – CS East Bay

Taylor Hanson (DR) – Cal State Bakersfield

Alexandra Honny (DR) – LMU

Lauren Porteus (CTR) – Colorado State