All the practices, all the games, all the trials led to this weekend. Seven teams, five of which make up the top five teams in the nation. Only three will go on.
The Cal women’s water polo team needed to win the MPSF tournament to move on to the NCAAs. But the players’ dreams of making an appearance at the NCAAs were cut short last Friday with a loss in the first round of the MPSF tournament.
The Bears took on No. 4 UCLA, a team that Cal has lost to twice this season, both times because of lapses in the Bears’ defense in the final quarter.
Last Friday, the No. 5 Bears played what was arguably their best defensive game of the season, only to lose to the Bruins, 4-3. The Bruins delivered the winning goal on a shot that tipped off the hand of another player to slowly lob over sophomore goalie Savanna Smith.
“That’s just a hard way [to lose] — we get a good block, and it was just a redirect in,” said junior driver Ashley Young. “We tried to get that shot block, and that’s unfortunate, but it happens.”
The Bears began the game in control, with Young winning the opening sprint. Most of the first quarter remained scoreless until Young fired a rocket into the net from the weak side.
Then, with a little more than 30 seconds left, senior driver Emily Csikos sent it hard past the UCLA goalie as the first quarter ended with the Bears leading, 2-0.
Cal came out strong in the second quarter too, as Young scored her second goal of the game with three minutes left in the half, giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.
But the Bruins gradually climbed back, tying the game at 3-3 with five minutes left in the game. With two minutes left, Bruin driver Rachel Fattal attempted a shot right in front of the goal that tipped off the hand of a Cal defender and lobbed over Smith’s outstretched arms, giving the Bruins the lead. Fattal had three of the Bruin’s four goals.
“I think anytime you can keep one of the top four teams down to four goals, that’s a good defensive game,” Young said. “I think they capitalized on a couple of mistakes we made towards the end of the game, but other than that, I think it was the best defense we played all season.”
Despite the score, the Bears had 13 steals throughout the game. Smith had one of the most impressive games of the season with eight saves, most of which took place within two meters of the goal.
“I’m lucky enough to have girls on my team that I practice with every day who are really good, and they keep me on my toes all the time,” Smith said. “I think today with our situation, with the seniors, I would say I peaked at the right time with my season.”
With the chances of going to the NCAAs eliminated, the Bears hoped to finish their season with a win, as they played for fifth place in their final game of the season. For the six seniors on the team, Sunday’s game was their chance to play at Spiekers one last time.
“I think everything we could control we did, and the rest is left to chance, really,” Smith said. “We’re really just trying to end strong and give a good farewell to the seniors.”
Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at [email protected].