DAVIS, Calif. — The No. 2 University of Hawai'i women's water polo team opened Big West play with a 12-7 win at No. 16 UC Davis on Friday at the Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis, Calif.
UH senior Lot Stertefeld scored a season-high four goals, Jordan Wedderburn posted her second hat trick of the season, and senior Lucia Gomez de la Puente added two goals in UH's 24th consecutive win in the series with UC Davis.
Gomez de la Puente and senior Alba Bonamusa Boix each assisted on three goals and the Rainbow Wahine improved to 12-2 heading into a match at No. 4 California on Sunday.
Six UH players contributed goals to UH's 7-3 lead in the first half and the Rainbow Wahine pulled away in the fourth quarter to close out their second win over UC Davis (6-14, 0-2 Big West) this season.
Emma Gurasich got the start in goal and came up with six saves in the first 16 minutes. Daisy Logtens took over in the second half and turned away eight shots.
In this season's first meeting between the Rainbow Wahine and Aggies, UC Davis jumped out to a 3-1 lead before UH rallied then pulled away to a 14-9 win in the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif. This time, UH led the rematch from the start.
UH center Bia Mantellato Dias drew an exclusion on the opening possession and converted on the power-play off an assist from Bonamusa Boix to give UH the lead 34 seconds into the game. Tara Logan lobbed a shot into the goal and Bernadette Doyle fired in another with an assist from Roni Perlman. Gomez de la Puente's backhanded goal gave UH a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
UC Davis broke through with a power-play goal at the 6:58 mark of the second quarter, but UH answered when Stertefeld broke to the left corner of the goal and tipped in a pass from Bonamusa Boix. Stertefeld added her second goal and Wedderburn pounded in a shot from close range to extend the lead to 7-2.
UC Davis' Bridget Miller scored twice early in the third quarter while Stertefeld scored her third and the Aggies closed to 8-5 after a period largely controlled by the defenses.
Wedderburn fired in a shot from the left side for a power-play goal to stretch the lead back to four, Stertefeld scored her fourth goal with 4:24 left and UH led 10-5. Gomez de la Puente scored again with an assist from Doyle and Wedderburn capped UH's scoring.
The Rainbow Wahine continue their Northern California road trip with a rematch with Cal on Sunday at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Hawai'i time). The 'Bows defeated the Golden Bears 10-7 on Feb. 24 in the semifinals of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, Calif.
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