HONOLULU — University of Hawai'i attacker
Lucia Gomez de la Puente was named the Big West Women's Water Polo Player of the Week on Wednesday, giving the second-ranked Rainbow Wahine three consecutive conference awards to open the season.
Gomez de la Puente accounted for 19 points with 11 goals and eight assists in the Triton Invitational and was instrumental to UH's attack throughout a 3-1 weekend in La Jolla, Calif., which was capped by a victory over then-No. 1 USC on Sunday.
Coming off their performance in the Triton Invitational, the Rainbow Wahine (8-1) rose two spots to No. 2 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Women's Varsity Top 25 released on Wednesday. UH received 94 points in the poll to trail only UCLA (100 points) and reached its highest ranking in the CWPA poll in program history.
UH became only the third team since 2001 to defeat Stanford and USC in the same season (joining UCLA and Fresno State) and Gomez de la Puente has contributed a team-high 34 points (20 goals, 14 assists) in the 'Bows' historic start to the season.
Gomez de la Puente, a senior from Madrid, Spain, opened the Triton Invitational by scoring three goals and assisting on four more in a 21-7 rout of San Diego State on Friday. She posted another hat trick with two assists on Saturday in a 14-9 win over UC Davis. Gomez de la Puente then tied her season and career high with four goals — three coming in the first quarter — in UH's 13-12 overtime loss to UCLA in the semifinals. She closed the road trip with another goal and two assists to help UH knock off USC for the first time since 2006 and post a win over a No. 1-ranked opponent for the second time this season.
The Big West Player of the Week award is the first of Gomez de la Puente's career and UH claimed three consecutive honors for the first time since joining the conference in the 2013 season. Sophomore
Bia Mantellato Dias won this season's first award followed by junior
Bernadette Doyle.
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