POMONA, Calif. — Cal State Fullerton women's water polo defeated Cal Lutheran 9-8 in overtime before falling to Santa Clara 17-5 Friday on day one of the Claremont Convergence. The Titans are now 7-10 on the season.
Cal State Fullerton 9, Cal Lutheran 8
The Titans outlasted Cal Lutheran 9-8 in six periods in their first game of the Claremont Convergence. Goals from Gabrielle Zaretskiy and Brittney Pino tied the game at two early in the first period, before a Cal Lutheran score gave them a 3-2 advantage.
Teams traded points in the second period, with a score from Delaney Wilder putting Fullerton up 5-4 with 3:45 until halftime. Cal Lutheran took a 6-5 lead into halftime, but back-to-back goals from Zaretskiy tied things up at seven in the fourth.
After the fourth period ended with both teams deadlocked at seven, Zaretskiy scored another in the fifth to put Fullerton ahead. Cal Lutheran answered with a goal to tie things back up at eight. Zaretskiy scored what would be the game-winner with 52 seconds left in the fifth, as neither team scored in the sixth period, giving the Titans the 9-8 win.
Zaretskiy led the Titans with six goals on 11 shots, while Haden Skye Bates tallied nine saves in goal and a .529 save percentage.
Cal State Fullerton 5, Santa Clara 17
Santa Clara jumped out to a quick start in the Titans' second game of the day, scoring three unanswered to begin the contest. Jacqueline Naito put Fullerton on the board midway through the first period.
The Broncos scored three more to take a 6-1 advantage, before goals from Kieran Scout Bates and Pino brought the score to 6-3. After Santa Clara took an 8-3 lead into halftime, the Broncos took control in the second half, going on to win 17-5.
Zaretskiy, Pino, Naito, Bates and Wilder each scored one goal apiece for Fullerton.
Fullerton returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, March 4th, for day two of the Claremont Convergence. The Titans will take on Westcliff at 9:00 a.m. and Whittier at 3:15 p.m.
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Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
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Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the water polo teams have established their own Twitter (@Fullerton_WP) and Instagram accounts (@Fullerton_WP).