The No. 13 Fresno State women’s water polo team swept a Golden Coast Conference (GCC) weekend against the No. 23 California Baptist Lancers, 20-8, and the No. 13 San Diego State Aztecs, 14-12.
The wins put the Bulldogs at 13-9 on the season.
“It’s great to come out of a big conference weekend 2-0,” said Head Coach Natalie Benson. “We knew we’d have to be ready.”
The Bulldogs were tasked in both weekend matchups, having to face Lancers’ attacker Emmie Ramirez and Aztecs’ attacker Mimi Stoupas — the top two goal scorers in the GCC. The Bulldogs held both scorers in check.
While Ramirez led the Lancers with four of their eight goals, Bulldogs’ attackers Kira Anderson and Charley Stephens recorded four-goal performances. Goalie Katelyn Mobley added five saves to give the Bulldogs a 12-goal victory.
A third period that saw the Bulldogs outscore the Lancers 8-1 allowed Benson to rest her starters and give goalie Islay Martin-Hill the final period in the cage.
In the penultimate regular-season game for the Bulldogs, it looked like more dominance would be displayed, but the Aztecs hung around and pushed the Bulldogs down to the final seconds.
“A couple lapses of judgment, and I think also just not adjusting to the officiating enough to where we could have a little bit more success,” Benson said. “But again, that’s how we learn. That’s how we grow.”
The Bulldogs’ first half was a blitz attack against the Aztecs, jumping out to a 9-4 lead at halftime. Senior attacker Hailey Andress started the onslaught for the ‘Dogs with a penalty shot. Her four-goal performance gets her over 60 goals for the third consecutive season.
Coming out of the break, the Aztecs were able to get big saves from their goalie, Kyla Pranajaya, which sparked some offense. They cut the Bulldogs’ lead to two at one point.
Despite the surge, the ‘Dogs held on. Anderson drew an exclusion to turn the shot clock off and the ‘Dogs played keep-away as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“For the most part, we did an okay job,” Benson said. “It was a little bit disjointed there in the second half.”
As the regular season comes to a close, Benson and the ‘Dogs are looking to finish strong.
“We’re going to have to just be dialed in mentally and have a lot of great communication,” Benson said. “Ultimately, I’m just looking forward to our team continuing to improve and continuing to grow.”
The Bulldogs will close out the regular season against the Pacific Tigers and honor their five seniors on March 28 at 1 p.m.
