LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's water polo team (3-12) returns to Canyonview Pool for a Western Water Polo Association match-up against Santa Clara (7-7) on Friday at 6:00 p.m. The Tritons have lost four of the last six meetings against the Broncos, with the last Triton win coming on April 27, 2008 at the WWPA Championships. UCSD is looking for its first winning streak of the year after defeating Long Beach State 10-9 last week at the UC Irvine Invitational. UCSD's last home games at Canyonview Pool were nearly a month ago as the Tritons went 2-2 hosting the Triton Invitational on February 6-7.
Santa Clara began the year with a triple overtime loss to No. 15 UC Santa Barbara. The Broncos defeated a ranked opponent in No. 16 Cal Baptist at the Roadrunner Invitational in February. It was the first of two Bronco wins over Cal Baptist this season.
On its trip to southern California, SCU will also face Cal State San Bernardino and Chapman.
Last week SCU defeated Cal Baptist 13-12 in overtime and lost to No. 16 Pacific by a 9-4 score.
Jenny Knutson leads the Broncos with 25 goals and 22 assists. Taylor Harkins has scored 22 times while Meg Zimmerman has added 14 goals. Caitlin Espe leads SCU with 17 steals and Laura Espinosa has a team-high 21 ejections drawn.
In goal, Wren White has started all 14 matches and has 109 saves and allowed 97 goals.
In Irvine last week, the Tritons lost its first two matches against No. 1 Stanford and No. 9 Cal State Northridge. UCSD rebounded with better results on Sunday against San Diego State and Long Beach State.
Against the Aztecs, the Tritons and Aztecs played to a 3-3 tie at halftime. SDSU would pull away in the second half to secure the 9-5 win.
In the win over Long Beach State, UCSD opened with five goals in the first quarter and scored three more times in the final period in the 10-9 win. Kirsten Bates scored four times against the 49ers.
Bates leads UCSD with 22 goals scored and is second on the team with 20 steals. Stephanie Heinrich has scored 19 goals while Audra Bloom has scored 17 times. Felicia Orozco has a team-high 15 assists while Bloom and Hanalei Crowell have 11 assists apiece. Bloom leads the Tritons with 21 steals while Crowell and Stephanie Bocian have 14 steals each.
Markayla Quane has recorded 141 saves in UCSD's 15 games.
Looking forward in two weeks, the Tritons will travel to San Diego State for four matches at the Aztec Invitational. UCSD will take on Wagner, Maryland, Princeton and Marist on March 13-14 on the SDSU campus.
