The University of Redlands women's water polo team registered an important Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory on Saturday morning, defeating the Panthers of Chapman University, 9-6. The Bulldogs played another contest later in the day against Cal State San Bernardino, and in the non-conference matchup, the Maroon and Gray fell, 5-9.
Avenging the loss to the Panthers in their first game of the year, the Bulldogs came to play on Saturday at the Thompson Aquatic Center, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. While playing stifling defense as a team, U of R sophomore driver Meg Claypool (Portland, OR) found the back of the net twice early on to give Redlands the quick two-goal advantage. Sophomore driver Annie Kinney (Newport Beach, CA) finished the stanza strong for the Bulldogs when she scored to make it a three-goal lead.
In the second quarter, Claypool continued to build on her strong performance, finishing another opportunity to make it 4-0. Freshman driver Grace Cochran (Danville, CA) then notched her first goal of the contest 25 seconds later to push the advantage to five. Cochran struck again in the third stanza to give the Maroon and Gray its largest lead of the game at 6-0, but then Chapman began to try and mount a comeback.
The Panthers tallied four-straight goals to pull to within two scores, but at the start of the fourth period, junior center-defender Deandra Van Houten (Huntington Beach, CA) gave Redlands some breathing room when she scored to make it 7-4.
Chapman pulled to within two goals twice more, but the Bulldogs had an answer on each occasion, as junior center-defender Tricia Bannister (Naperville, IL) and sophomore driver Taylor Christie (Anaheim, CA) both found the back of the net en route to the 9-6 conference win.
Senior goalkeeper Julie Lupfer (San Diego, CA) played phenomenally all contest long, racking up an incredible 18 saves.
Redlands traveled to CSU San Bernardino later in the day, and after falling behind early, the Bulldogs could not recover in the four-goal loss. Kinney led the way for Redlands with a hat-trick, while both Claypool and Cochran tallied a goal apiece. Additionally, Lupfer recorded nine saves between the pipes.
The U of R (10-17, 2-2 SCIAC) returns to action when it travels to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. conference matchup with the Athenas.
