The University of Redlands women's water polo team hosted Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Wednesday evening at the Thompson Aquatic Center (TAC), and in a highly-contested Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) matchup, the Bulldogs fell to the Sagehens, 6-7.
After falling behind in the opening stanza by a goal, senior center Jaci Cochrane (San Bernardino, CA) leveled the score for Redlands at 1-1 when she found the back of the net. With both teams battling throughout the remainder of the period, the Sagehens nabbed a one-goal advantage at the first break.
In the second period, junior center-defender Deandra Van Houten (Huntington Beach, CA) registered a goal for the Bulldogs, tying the contest at 2-2. Then in the third stanza, Van Houten tacked on another to push the Maroon and Gray in front by a score.
Pomona-Pitzer responded quickly, however, rattling off five-consecutive goals over the next several minutes and eventually took a 7-3 lead early in the fourth period.
Redlands did not go down without a fight though, and over the final few minutes fired off three goals to pull to within one. Freshman driver Grace Cochran (Danville, CA), junior center-defender Tricia Bannister (Naperville, IL), and J. Cochrane each notched the scores during those final few minutes, but the U of R could not find the tying goal unfortunately, resulting in the disappointing defeat.
Between the pipes for the Bulldogs, senior goalkeeper Julie Lupfer (San Diego, CA) racked up seven saves on the evening.
Redlands (9-16, 1-2 SCIAC) returns to the pool on Saturday, April 5, when it hosts Chapman University at the TAC. The conference contest is set to begin at 11 a.m.
