Matt Lee/File

Team USA is struggling.

The Bears are currently in Kazan, Russia, representing the United States at the World University Games, better known as the Universiade 2013. The games started on July 6 and will continue until July 17.

Cal kicked off the tournament with a 12-5 loss to Hungary last Saturday. On Monday, it went head-to-head against France but eventually came out with a close 7-5 loss. The Bears then played against Australia on Wednesday, ending in a 6-6 tie as Cal prepared for the quarterfinals on Friday.

Unfortunately for the Bears, the matchup between Russia and the United States in the quarterfinals ended with a 20-7 loss for the Bears. Following this loss, the Bears played in the losers’ bracket semifinals against Australia, losing 9-5. Cal’s next and last game in the tournament will be on Tuesday against France, where both teams will vie for seventh place.

Although the Bears’ losing streak has continued throughout the games, a new offensive leader has emerged: senior driver Ashley Young. After Cal lost its previous top scorer in all-time leading scorer Emily Csikos, one question remained: Who would take over for the Bears on the offensive end? But Young has cemented herself as one of Cal’s new leaders, having scored multiple goals in four of the five matches so far.

The streak of losses may be explained by the fact that the team consists only of the Bears’ roster, while their opposing teams are made up of some of the best players in each country.

Despite the team’s failure to come up with a win in the tournament so far, the Bears are making the best of their time in Russia. According to sophomore Brooke Vowell’s blog, “Brooke’s Beat,” the Bears are enjoying all that Russia has to offer, summing it up with a simple statement: “Folks, it’s that time of year to be adventurous and touristy. Yes, Cal Women’s Water Polo takes on Kazan!”

There is no lack of sights to see in Russia, including the games. The opening ceremony itself drew 45,000 spectators, with more than 2 million people expected to visit Kazan during the games. This does not include the athletes, which rounds up to roughly 12,000 student-athletes from 170 different countries.

Despite the number of games Cal has lost at the tournament, the Bears are hoping to make the most of their experience in Kazan. According to Brooke’s Beat, “Although this record isn’t stellar, our squad is coming out of it with some great experience. We have come a long way since we began playing together this summer, and I’m confident that things will only get better!”

Hopefully for the Bears, Cal can end the tournament on a high note and come home not only with new memories but also with a win under its belt.

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org

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The Cal women’s water polo team has been selected to represent the United States at the 2013 Universiade, better known as the World University Games.

The Bears, who ended last season ranked No. 4 in the nation but failed to make an appearance at the NCAA tournament, kicked off the games on Saturday. Cal fell to Hungary for the first match of the games, losing 12-5.

Only senior Ashley Young and juniors Tiera Schroeder and Missy Hale scored for the Bears. Sophomore Kathleen Menz and incoming freshman Kelsey Roland split goalie time, each coming up with three saves. Cal’s next game will take place on Monday against France.

The Universiade, a combination of the words University and Olympiad, is an international multisport event organized for university students by the International University Sports Federation. The 2013 games, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade, are being held in Kazan, Russia, this year from July 6 to 17.

The World University Games constitute the second largest sporting competition in the world, with more than 13,500 student-athletes from more than 170 countries around the globe competing in 27 different sports.

Much like the Olympics, the Bears took part in an opening ceremony, and they represented the United States along with U.S. athletes from different sports. Although games did not start until July 6, Russia formally introduced the United States to the games with a ceremony on the Fourth of July, starting with the raising of the American flag.

During the games, the athletes reside in the athlete village with students from all over the world, similar to the village athletes stay in during the Olympics. Unlike the Olympics, the summer games will feature other nontraditional sports, such as belt wrestling and chess.

The Bears have 13 of their current players in Russia for the games, marking the first year U.S. water polo is sending a singular team rather than a team composed of players from different institutions. Cal will be competing against seven other teams from around the world — Italy, Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Australia and Hungary.

Head Coach Rich Corso has selected nine returners and four incoming freshmen for Russia. Freshmen Emily Loughlin, Kelsey Roland, Brigitta Games and Stephanie Mutafyan all have some previous exposure to national competition, as all four were members of the U.S. Youth National Team.

The rest of the team is also composed mostly of underclassmen — four sophomores, four juniors and only one senior. Two other current Cal players, Kelly McKee and Michelle Caron, are also in Russia, playing with Team Canada.

Corso also has prior experience at the Olympic-level games, having served as the U.S. men’s Olympic water polo team from 1992 to 1996, leading that team to a gold medal at the 1995 Pan American games.

For the Bears, the medal ceremony will take place on the last day of the games, July 16, when the final two matches of the games will be played for gold, silver and bronze medals.

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org

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Michael Tao/Senior Staff

Editor’s Note: Over summer, the Daily Californian will be releasing its power rankings of Cal’s sports as decided by the Daily Cal sports staff. Stay tuned for No. 10 and No. 9 next week!

Everyone knows what Cal is. Mention it, and people recognize it immediately: It’s the No. 1 public university in the world, known for its academics and its impressive athletic programs. Cal women’s water polo is no exception.

Despite falling short of NCAAs this year, the No. 5 Cal women’s water polo team proved it could compete with the best of the best. Sure, they lost to the top four teams in the nation throughout the season, but they gave them a run for their money. These games were all close — usually coming down to a goal or two in the final quarter. And let’s think about the fact that Cal had to play the top four teams in the whole United States. The MPSF is home to USC, ASU, UCLA, Stanford and Cal, rounding out the top five teams in the country — all competing for only three bids for the NCAA tournament.

The Bears did not use the level of competitiveness as an excuse for their lack of wins. For the first half of the season, Cal was inconsistent in its play. And maybe if the Bears had not dug themselves into such a deep hole during the season, they wouldn’t have had to win the MPSF tournament to make it to NCAAs.

The little details within Cal’s game were the things that held the team back — mainly the lack of consistency from its defense. But there was a gradual and visible improvement as the season went on, and the dream of returning to the NCAAs came to a close with a nail-biting, heart-wrenching ending in a 4-3 loss to No. 4 UCLA.

The recurring theme of the Cal and UCLA matches was the lack of defense for the Bears during the last quarter. But in their final showdown of the season, UCLA just managed to win by a ball that was deflected and tipped off the hand of a Cal defender in the final minute of the game.

Some might consider this one of the more disappointing seasons in women’s water polo, especially because the team finished the NCAAs in second place just last season. But its failure to make an appearance at the NCAAs does not mean the season itself was a failure.

Emily Csikos, who is currently training with the Canadian National team for the 2016 Olympics, was a consistent offensive force throughout the season for the Bears, eventually breaking the school all-time record with 215 goals in her career.

Along with Csikos, graduated seniors Dana Ochsner and Breda Vosters were named All-MPSF for the season. The Bears also had three players on the top-25 scorers list for the league, and the team was recently selected to represent the United States in the World University Games this summer.

It might seem like a minor detail because of the high expectations that come along with our school, but being ranked No. 5 in the country is a big deal. And let’s be honest: These girls could still swim laps around you any day of the week. So give credit where credit is due, and tip your hats off to the Cal women’s water polo team.

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org

The post Power Rankings: honorable mention women’s water polo appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Matt Lee/File

Two years ago, the Cal women’s water polo team fell just short of winning the NCAA tournament. This year, the Bears saw six members of that team graduate en route to one of the more disappointing seasons in recent program memory.

The Bears started this season with high hopes, ranked No. 4 in the country and in MPSF, as well as bringing back seven starters from last year’s team. Also back was three-time All-American senior Emily Csikos, fresh off of helping the Canadian National team qualify for the Olympics.

The Bears (17-7) proved they earned the fourth spot after going 12-2 in the preseason, losing only to Stanford and Arizona State, both of whom were ranked in the top five. Losing to these teams dropped the Bears from a No. 4 to a No. 5 ranking, but Cal was not deterred, determined to make up for it in conference play. Nobody knew that Cal would have trouble with all of the top-four teams, unable to climb from its No. 5 spot for the remainder of the season.

The Bears’ season ended with a fifth place win in the MPSF tournament over No. 6 San Jose State last Saturday. But before that, the crushing loss to UCLA last Friday was the final blow that cut the Bears’ dreams of making it to the NCAA tournament short. Despite the 4-3 loss, Cal managed to accomplish something it had been struggling with all season: playing solid water polo for all four quarters.

A trend with the Bears throughout the season had been their lack of consistency during games against one top-four team in particular. Against UCLA, the Bears finally managed to play solid defense for the entire game. But despite their best efforts, the Bears lost on a UCLA shot that was tipped by a Cal player, resulting in the ball lobbing over goalie Savanna Smith’s outstretched arms.

“(The season) was a tough one, especially for it being my last but I thought we did well,” said senior center Dana Ochsner. “We got better each game we played, and to finish with a really good game against UCLA, it was a good ending.”

Ochsner, fifth on Cal’s leading scorer list for this season, is one of six seniors leaving the Bears.

Csikos is another, who will be leaving Cal after establishing herself as one of the best water polo players to ever play at Berkeley. After helping Cal win second in the NCAA tournament in 2011, Csikos returned to lead the Bears with 49 goals this season. She also managed to break the all-time leading record in goals for the Bears, last set in 1999, with 215 goals in her career.

For six of the players, the end of the season marked the end of their careers at Cal.

“After our game on Friday, we went to the team room, and we had our own team meeting,” said Ochsner. “It was sad, but at the same time, it was good, because we could talk to everyone and just feel like a team for one last time.”

With Cal playing what was arguably one of its best games against UCLA but still losing, the Bears can only look forward to next year. As for the six seniors, it means they will have to leave the sanctuary that was Spieker and root from the stands.

“Being at such an amazing university — and a difficult one at that — it shaped me into being a hard-working person,” said Ochsner. “I’ve learned how to enjoy victories and overcome obstacles. It shaped my character and made me a better person.”

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org.

The post For Cal women’s water polo, a hopeful season ends in disappointment appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Tao/Senior Staff

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 afong@dailycal.org.

The post NCAA dreams dashed as Cal women’s water polo falls to UCLA appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/File

The fate of the Cal women’s water polo team will be determined this weekend.

The MPSF tournament is being held at the Spieker Aquatics Complex this weekend, as the women’s water polo MPSF teams come to Berkeley to compete for a spot in the NCAA tournament in May. The No. 5 Bears need to win the whole tournament in order to qualify for a spot.

“For all the seniors, it’s our last home game, so that puts an element of emotion into it,” said senior Taylor Dodson. “And it’s a lot more intense because this is our last opportunity to qualify for the NCAA tournament.”

Dodson is referring to the Bears’ No. 5 ranking, which at the current moment will not be enough to get them to the NCAA tournament. Only the top three teams from the MPSF will go on to the NCAAs, and Cal will need to take home first in order to move on.

While winning the tournament is doable, it definitely won’t be easy with the top five teams in the country all in the same league. The Bears have lost to all of the top four teams throughout the season.

If Cal wins the first round, they will play against No. 1 Stanford on Saturday. The Bears will have to beat the Cardinal in order to make it to the championship game.

But first, Cal will have to play against No. 4 UCLA. The Bears are kicking off the MPSF tournament by taking on the Bruins on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Cal is 0-2 this season against the Bruins, losing 7-4 during the Stanford Invitational in February, and 10-7 during conference play in March.

“Last time against UCLA, we were doing really well, and then we just kind of went off the grid for the last period,” said senior driver Emily Csikos. “If we can be consistent for the entire game and play our style as opposed to trying to match their style, I think we’ll be in great shape.”

A continuing trend with Cal against these top ranked teams is its lack of consistency throughout the entire game. The focus for this upcoming game against UCLA will be the Bears’ defense, which had a strong showing against No. 1 Stanford last weekend but, like in other games, fell short in the final quarter.

“We know how they play, so shutting down some of their bigger scorers is a goal for us, to keep the intensity high and to keep our defense composed,” said Dodson. “We need to make sure that we’re ready to play defense even when we’re on offense.”

With just three teams from the MPSF going to the NCAA tournament, two of the top five teams in the nation will inevitably be left at home.

“This tournament will be better than the NCAA championships,” said Cal coach Rich Corso. “This is better water polo; the level of water polo will be much higher here.”

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org.

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Fans piled into Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday as a magnificent clash of red and blue took both sides of the pool, waiting for the Big Splash to commence.

And for most of the day, the fans got what they wanted: not just a game between the No. 1- and No. 5-ranked team, but an intense match between two rival teams.

The Cal women’s water polo team took on No. 1 Stanford (26-1, 6-0) last Friday, signaling its conference game before the MPSF tournament. The No. 5 Bears (16-6, 2-4) were looking for a win to prove they could play with their rivals, the top team in the nation.

And for three quarters, they did just that.

The most noticeable positives came from the underclassmen, who took charge of the Bears’ offense. Goals from sophomores McKee and Williams and freshman Pippa Saunders kept the Bears in the game for the first three quarters.

“[The underclassmen] definitely stepped it up today,” said senior Dana Ochsner. “They really helped the team out, and they were big key factors in our strong defense today.”

The Bears were the first on the board when a save by Cal goalkeeper Savanna Smith gave the ball back to the Bears. Sophomore driver Victoria Williams sent a shot from the weak side ricocheting off the side of the goal into the net, putting Cal on the scoreboard.

The Cardinal responded with a goal with a little less than five minutes left in the quarter as sophomore Kiley Neushul skipped a shot past Smith to tie the game, 1-1.

The game continued as a back-and-forth battle, in which the two teams traded goals for the first three quarters of the game. Cal’s defense was the pivotal part of the game, holding the Cardinal offense at bay for most of the first three quarters.

But Neushul scored a goal with 24 seconds left in the third quarter, and Stanford led, 6-4.

The same problem that plagued the Bears against the other top teams in the league seemed to be back, as Cal was not able to keep up with its opponents in the last quarter.

“We were taking some shots before that we shouldn’t have, and so we were kind of caught off guard a little bit coming back on defense,” said sophomore Kelly McKee.

The Cardinal pulled ahead, scoring two goals within one minute to put Stanford up, 8-4. The Bears were not able to answer back as the game ended.

“We got a little bit away from our game plan,” said Cal coach Richard Corso. “When you’re playing the number one team in the country, you can’t do that.”

With the regular season over, the Bears look ahead to the MPSF tournament, where a win-or-go-home attitude is necessary to make it to the NCAAs. Despite the loss, Cal is able to use this Stanford game as a gauge to determine where it stands.

“We know we can play really good defense against a really good team,” Ochsner said. “We just need to keep it up all the way through the fourth quarter next time.”

The post Cal women’s water polo falls to Stanford, 8-4, in Big Splash appeared first on The Daily Californian.

With the Big Splash on the horizon, the Cal women’s water polo team have one final chance in the regular season to prove they can compete with the top teams in the nation.

On Friday at 5 p.m. at the Spieker Aquatic Complex, the No. 5 Bears will take on Stanford in their last conference game of the season. The Cardinal (25-1, 5-0) defeated USC last weekend to take over the No. 1 spot in MPS, making them the only undefeated team left in the league.

After losing to four out of the top five teams the season, the home tilt will be the last chance for Cal to avoid going winless against the best teams in the nation.

Because of the losses, the Bears have stagnated in the No. 5 spot for most of the season. While No. 5 in the league is admirable, only the top three teams from MPSF will move on to the NCAA tournament in May.

A win against Stanford will not help move them move up in the rankings this late in the season, but it will serve as starting place to gain some momentum heading into the MPSF tournament.

“(A win) would be a good confidence booster because they’re ranked No. 1 right now,” senior center Dana Ochsner said. “Stanford is always a little extra because, you know, it’s Stanford.”

But the Cardinals are No. 1 for a reason — three players were featured on the 2012 U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning team.

Senior Melissa Seidemann, junior Annika Dries, and freshman Maggie Steffens have been the Olympian triumvirate that’s been carrying Stanford all season. Seidemann leads the Cardinals with 59 goals, making her fourth on MPSF’s scoring list this season. Steffens is close behind, with 48 goals this season, as she rounds out the top-10 on MPSF’s list.

But these former Olympians and the big-name attraction they carry do not concern the Bears in terms of preparing for the upcoming game.

“I don’t see them as anything impossible; we’re not treating them like they’re superstars,” said Ochsner. “We have to acknowledge that they have some really good girls — you can’t overlook that. But we’re not going to do anything special just for them.”

The Bears have their own offensive forces in seniors Ochsner and Emily Csikos. Csikos, who leads the team with 45 goals this season, recently broke the all-time leading scorers’ record at Cal with 214 goals in her career. Ochsner averages two goals per game, needing only 11 more goals to break into the top 10 on Cal’s all-time list.

But the Bears’ biggest ally for Friday can be its home pool. Cal has the privilege of playing at home for their last conference game and as well as the upcoming MPSF tournament on April 26 to 28.

Cal must place first in the tournament if they want any chance of going to the NCAA tournament in May, and a home court advantage could be a positive intangible for the Bears.

“You know the pool — it works into your routine how we get to dress in our locker room, we get to warm up where we usually warm up and it’s comfortable here,” Ochsner said. “You still have to treat it like a tournament, but it definitely takes some of the stress off.”

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org

The post Cal women’s water polo hosts Stanford in last conference game appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Andrew Kuo/Senior Staff

It might start with your pinky finger trembling or forgetting your computer password. The smallest things make you angry.

You tell yourself this happens to many others, but it gets worse year by year. You become more and more forgetful until you start to lose your memory altogether. Your arms and legs begin to have minds of their own, and you just can’t control which way your head moves. Your mood swings become more severe until eventually, you lose your mind completely.

These symptoms worsen as you lose the ability to control your mind and body. Eventually, a complication claims your life.

This is a reality for people with Huntington’s disease, a genetic disorder that degenerates brain nerve cells.

Huntington’s disease, which remains incurable, is a progressive brain disorder caused by a faulty gene that is passed down through families. Affecting one out of every 10,000 Americans, the symptoms for Huntington’s disease normally emerge in adults between the ages of 30 and 50.

Huntington’s disease affects not only the person diagnosed but the people closest to him or her.

“It’s a disease of the family,” says Fred Taubman, director of communications for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. “It impacts worse than normal diseases, like cancer.”

Ashley Young’s family has been haunted by this disease for three generations. Ashley’s grandfather, dad and older brother have all been diagnosed with Huntington’s.

And Ashley has a 50/50 chance of inheriting it. But she won’t let the prospect of the disease consume her.

A little before Ashley was born, her grandfather passed away from complications from Huntington’s disease. After her grandfather passed away, her dad disappeared, falling to a life of drugs and abuse.

Depression, the most common mental symptom of Huntington’s disease, may sometimes eventually lead to substance abuse.

“My grandpa passed away, and my dad wasn’t really able to cope with that,” Ashley says.

With her father’s drug addiction plaguing the family, her mother decided to raise Ashley and her siblings on her own.

“You get to a point where you realize that you can’t make someone be who they’re supposed to be,” says Ashley’s mother Maggie Young.

For the rest of Ashley’s family, the absence of her father did not mean the end of Huntington’s disease in their lives.

Ashley’s 28-year-old brother tested positive for Huntington’s disease a few years ago. Her older sister has not been tested, and neither has Ashley.

Unlike her father, who currently is in the late stages of Huntington’s disease and has not spoken to Ashley in years, Ashley’s older siblings are still very much in the picture.

Her siblings stepped in as her surrogate parents, helping with everyday chores like picking Ashley up from school, helping her with homework and making her dinner.

“I was kind of like their little kid,” Ashley says. “I never felt alone or like I needed my father.”

With her mom working full-time to support the four of them, Ashley tagged along with her older siblings wherever they went. Most of her childhood days were spent by the pool, with her brother and sister playing water polo.

In order to make it easier on Ashley’s mom, she joined the 10-and-under water polo league at the same pool as her siblings.

“She just threw me into the program so that we would all be there, and she could just pick us up when she got off of work,” Ashley says. “It was just easier for her. And then I guess I just fell in love with it.”

In fifth grade, she was asked to play in a tournament with an elite team from Coronado, a town well-known for its great water polo players and coaches. Ashley and her family moved to Coronado so she could immerse herself in the sport.

The water polo community provided Ashley with stability — a constant in her life to escape the shadow of Huntington’s disease and the absence of her father. Her new team quickly turned in to her second family — for both Ashley and her mom.

Through water polo, Ashley’s self-confidence grew. The pool provided refuge from the looming threat of Huntington’s disease that riddled her family even before her birth.

The lessons from the pool aligned with the motto her mom swore by her entire life.

“Self-pity will never create success,” Ashley says.

Now a junior, Ashley hopes to continue playing water polo professionally as a driver in Europe after she graduates from Cal.

When her water polo career eventually ends, she wants to work with the Peace Corps, Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. With a major in Interdisciplinary Studies and a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies, Ashley hopes to work somewhere that relates to her academic emphasis on globalization and consumer behavior, including marketing and social networking.

One day, she also hopes to settle down and start a family.

“I want to have a family and children and everything,” Ashley says. “I don’t think [the disease] is going to hold me back.”

But the threat of Huntington’s disease is always present. Everything she dreams of can slowly dissipate as her mind and body withers away from the disease.

But Ashley won’t dwell on the thoughts. She can’t, really — she has no time. With school and water polo in full swing, Ashley will eventually get tested when she has the time.

“I go through phases where I do want to be tested,” Ashley says. “But I know I’m going to wait until after college.”

Not everyone wants to get tested for Huntington’s. According to Taubman, a majority of potential Huntington’s disease victims don’t get tested — for some, the emotional toll is too much. Others just don’t want to know beforehand.

The Young family faced this dilemma about taking the test multiple times. Ashley’s brother took the test a few years ago, wanting to know his destiny. His 50/50 chance landed on the wrong side, forecasting a future with Huntington’s disease.

Ashley’s sister, who is pregnant at the moment, has not been tested, nor does she want to. She feels like knowing would not affect how she lives her life.

People who could potentially have the disease must go through mandatory psych evaluation to determine whether they are mentally prepared enough to take the test. Once they are ready, the doctors draw out their blood and look for the mutant chromosome that causes Huntington’s disease.

Even with the constant presence of Huntington’s disease, Ashley continues to live a normal life, determined not to surrender to what she cannot control.

The specter of the disease is not a daily thought process, but every now and then, it will pop into her head.

Instead of dwelling on the what-ifs of Huntington’s disease, Ashley is focused on the what-nows.

Water polo and school are her main focuses right now, and she’s working toward a professional water polo career overseas.

Any professional athletic career requires the mastery of the body; Huntington’s disease seizes control of the body. The irony doesn’t go unnoticed to Ashley.

But Ashley does not let the 50/50 chance hinder her future. She came this far already — she can go above and beyond.

“I am so blessed to be here,” Ashley says. “I am still in awe, that’s no doubt.”

For more information about the Huntington’s disease, contact the Huntington’s Disease Society of America at hdsa.org or at (800)345-4372.

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org.

The post 50/50: Ashley Young’s resilience in face of Huntington’s disease appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Matt Lee/File

Every time No. 4 got the ball, the Cal fans at Hillman Aquatics Complex held their breath. With every miss, a groan from the stands echoed across the pool.

And with 4:33 left in the first quarter, it finally happened — Emily Csikos scored. With that, the driver broke the record for most goals in program history.

Csikos and the Cal women’s water polo team played their final away game of the regular season last Saturday, beating CSU Bakersfield, 14-7. It was the fourth consecutive win for the No. 5 Bears (16-5, 2-3) as they head into their last match of conference play this Friday against No. 2 Stanford.

Csikos had been on the cusp of this record, scoring only two goals in total in the past two games. With two goals on Saturday, Csikos finally broke the long wait.

“My initial reaction was honestly just, like, finally,” Csikos said. “I really wanted to break it when my mom was here the game before, but it didn’t happen. I don’t think its totally hit me yet, but it was pretty exciting.”

Csikos is now the new Cal all-time scorer with 214 goals throughout her career. After leading the team with 47 goals this season, the senior broke the 14-year-old record set by Colette Glinkowski.

Considering that Csikos beat this record even with taking last season off while she was training with the Canadian national team, the significance of the record becomes more impressive.

Csikos started the game tied with Glinkowski, who set the record in 1999.

Csikos was not the only player to shine on Saturday. Freshman Kathleen Menz got her second career start for the Bears and had 10 saves for the game. Junior Ashley Young and sophomore Victoria Williams led the Bears with three goals each as Cal continued to stretch its lead against the Roadrunners.

Despite holding just a 7-4 lead at the end of the first half, the Bears outscored CSU Bakersfield, 4-1, in the third quarter. Young and Csikos were the main offensive manufacturers, scoring for three combined goals in the quarter. Senior Remington Price also added to the lead with a goal of her own, giving the Bears an 11-5 lead going into the final quarter.

Cal did not let off of the accelerator, outscoring the Roadrunners once again. Despite giving up two goals, the Bears scored three to stamp the 14-7 win.

As for Csikos, she has at least three more games — hopefully more in the postseason — to continue to pile on to her brand-new record at Spieker Aquatics Center in front of her fans and family.

“Obviously, I was happy and excited, but I think it’ll really set in when my family is visiting and everyone is together during MPSF,” Csikos said.

Alicia Fong covers women’s water polo. Contact her at afong@dailycal.org.

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