The University of Redlands women's water polo team faced a formidable slate of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) foes this week, taking on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday and Cal Lutheran University on Saturday. The Bulldogs dropped an 8-12 decision to the CMS Athenas in a road-match, before falling short against the Regals in a 7-9 loss at home.
On Saturday, Redlands and Cal Lutheran competed through a tight, back-and-forth battle that included three ties. The Bulldogs gained their only lead of the game at 2-1 after junior center-defender Deandra Van Houten (Huntington Beach, CA) and sophomore driver Taylor Christie (Anaheim, CA) each fired off an early goal.
The teams traded scores through most of the second stanza, with the final knotted tally of the game coming at five apiece early in the third frame. From here, Cal Lutheran created some space with a pair of consecutive scores for a 7-5 advantage.
Although Redlands pulled one back with a goal by Van Houten, Cal Lutheran regained the two-score lead and proceeded to buckle down defensively, resulting in the low-scoring fourth frame.
The Maroon and Gray made it 7-9 when sophomore driver Annie Kinney (Newport Beach, CA) completed her hat trick with 52 seconds left in the contest.
Senior goalkeeper Julie Lupfer (San Diego, CA) recorded eight saves in the loss.
Earlier this week, the Bulldogs traveled to nearby Claremont to take on the Athenas. After a slow start, Redlands struggled to make up the deficit and suffered the four-goal defeat.
Van Houten got Redlands on the board with a pair of scores late in the first half.
Trailing 2-4, the Bulldogs traded scores with the home team, with Kinney finding the back of the net for the Maroon and Gray.
But CMS answered with a pair of goals before freshman driver Grace Cochran (Danville, CA) and Kinney teamed up for consecutive netters to close out the second stanza.
Down by a score of 5-8, Redlands saw the Athenas pull away with back-to-back goals of their own, before senior center Jaci Cochrane (San Bernardino, CA) fired one past the opposing goalkeeper.
The Bulldogs finished strong with two scores in the final three minutes of competition, as Kinney and Cochran both notched their second goals of the game.
Saves for this match were unavailable.
Redlands (10-19 2-4 SCIAC) welcomes Caltech to the Thompson Aquatic Center on Wednesday for Senior Night, beginning at 7 p.m.
