The University of Redlands women's water polo team competed in the San Diego State University Tournament over the weekend, dropping a trio of games against top-notch Division I competition. The Bulldogs fell in the opener to Brown University (RI) on Friday, 6-10, before coming up short on Saturday against No. 9 Long Beach State, 2-11, and No. 6 San Diego State, 5-12.
In Friday's contest at the Aztec Aquaplex, the Maroon and Gray faced an early 0-3 deficit in the first period after just three minutes. Redlands pulled one back, however, when junior center Jaci Cochrane (San Bernardino, CA) found the back of the net with 1:45 remaining in the opening stanza.
Brown tacked on two more in the second period, but Cochrane provided the answer for Redlands, tallying two more of her own to complete her individual hat-trick.
The Bears were first to score again in the third stanza, but Bulldog senior driver Moana Tuipulotu (Lahaina, HI) registered her first goal of the game two minutes later to cut the deficit to two. Tuipulotu added another later in the quarter, as did senior driver Jill Stein (Palm Desert, CA), but Brown continued to fire shots on the Bulldog goal, resulting in three more scores for the Bears and a 9-6 lead over Redlands heading into the final period.
The U of R was unable to muster up any more scores in the contest while allowing one more, resulting in the four-goal defeat.
In the loss, Bulldog junior goalkeeper Julie Lupfer (San Diego, CA) recorded five saves while patrolling the cage for Redlands.
Against Long Beach State on Saturday, the Maroon and Gray struggled to get its offense rolling, finding the back of the net just twice against the 49ers. Freshman utility player Annie Kinney (Balboa, CA) impressed for the Bulldogs, notching both goals for Redlands.
Five different Bulldogs registered scores against the Aztecs of San Diego State in the final game of the tournament for Redlands. Stein, Tuipulotu, sophomore driver Tricia Bannister (Naperville, IL), sophomore center-defender Haley Hollinrake (Redlands, CA) and freshman center Meg Claypool (Portland, OR) each got on the score-sheet by finding the back of the net one time apiece.
The U of R (7-13) looks forward to hosting Occidental College on Wednesday, March 27, at the Thompson Aquatic Center in the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) bout of the season for Redlands. The contest is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
