LA JOLLA, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i women's water polo team, ranked third and fourth in the national polls, clinched at least a share of the Big West regular-season championship with a 12-7 win over No. 11 UC San Diego on Thursday at the Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla, Calif.
The Rainbow Wahine (17-3, 6-0 Big West) claimed back-to-back regular-season conference titles and also secured the top seed in the Big West Championship with their eighth consecutive victory. UH has won seven regular-season crowns since joining the Big West in 2013, six coming in the last seven seasons.
UH senior
Jordan Wedderburn, the reigning Big West Player of the Week, posted her 11th hat trick of the season and finished with four goals. Wedderburn was among four UH players with at least two goals as the 'Bows scored on their first seven shots to set the tone for the win.
Gabrielle and
Bernadette Doyle celebrated National Siblings Day with two goals each,
Stevilyn Griffin also netted two goals in the first half, and UH converted on 48% of its 25 shots. UH goalie
Daisy Logtens came up with a season-high 15 saves and the UH defense held UCSD to a .219 shooting percentage on 32 attempts and 2-for-11 (.182) on the power play. Caroline Christl led the Tritons (14-13, 3-3) with three goals.
The Rainbow Wahine got goals from six different players on their first six shots of the match.
Gabrielle Doyle opened the scoring 46 seconds into the match and Wedderburn followed with a goal off an assist from
Bernadette Doyle, who then scored her first goal on UH's next possession to extend the lead to 3-1.
Esmee Roijen, Griffin and
Roni Perlman all scored before the end of the period to give UH a 6-2 lead after eight minutes.
Griffin made it 7 for 7 with her second goal of the match early in the second quarter before UCSD came up with its first save of the evening. The scoring slowed before
Bernadette Doyle snuck a shot from the left angle into the net to give UH an 8-3 lead. Christl scored her third goal of the match on a power play and the 'Bows took a four-goal lead into halftime.
The defenses controlled the early portion of the third quarter until
Gabrielle Doyle took a long outlet pass from Logtens and floated in her second goal of the match at the 3:38 mark of the period. Wedderburn also scored her second goal to stretch the margin to 10-4. Logtens shutout UCSD in the period until the Tritons scored with two seconds left.
Wedderburn completed her hat trick early in the fourth quarter and reached four goals in a match for the sixth time this season to give UH a 12-5 cushion. UCSD added two late goals to account for the final margin.
UH takes a break from conference play with a showdown with No. 4/3 UCLA on Saturday, April 12 at the Spieker Aquatics Center in Los Angeles. The 'Bows defeated the Bruins on Feb. 23 in their first win over UCLA since 2011.
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