The University of Redlands women's water polo team hopped back into the water on Saturday for a pair of non-conference contests on the road. The Bulldogs dropped both matches, falling to Whittier College, 8-17, and Azusa Pacific University, 6-16.
Against Whittier, Redlands fell behind early and struggled to recover from the deficit. The Bulldogs' most productive period came in the third, during which they fired five goals past the Poet goalkeeper. Senior utility player Deandra Van Houten (Huntington Beach, CA) uncorked two of her team-high three scores, while freshman attack player Alea Weber (Haiku, HI), junior attack player Meg Claypool (Portland, OR), and junior utility player Caitlyn Freeman (Brentwood, CA) provided one goal apiece during this frame.
During the Maroon and Gray's second match of the day, the Bulldogs struggled against the high-octane offense of APU from the first whistle and faced a significant hole after one period. The squad's defense stepped up in the third frame, holding the Cougars to only one score.
Claypool and Van Houten accounted for all but one of the team's six goals in the loss.
Junior goalkeeper AC Lopez (Northridge, CA) continues to gain experience by patrolling the cage in both contests. No statistics were available for either game.
Redlands (0-3) heads to Riverside on Friday-Saturday, February 13-14, for matches against host Cal Baptist University, third-ranked USC, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, and No. 20 Cal State University Bakersfield.
