LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Water Polo team swept the competition on Day 2 action at the Claremont Convergence beating Augustana (13-7) and Macalester (14-8) thanks to hat-tricks from Holly Kvanvig (Beaverton, OR), Hannah Long (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), and Emma Parker (Yucaipa, CA). The Bulldogs finish the two-day event 3-1.
Game 1 (Augustana, W, 13-7)
Kvanvig opened the scoring :48 seconds into the game and saw it go back and forth after that. Sofia Portello (Sonoma, CA) picked up the second goal of the period at the 1:21 mark and then found Long for the go-ahead tally with :14 seconds left.
The Maroon and Grey came out hot in the second quarter with three goals in the first 3:42 as they strung together four unanswered thanks to Courtney Sawin (Tacoma, WA), Parker, and Sydney Sereg (Fullerton, CA), extending the advantage to 6-2. With an Augustana goal sandwiched in between, the Bulldogs scored the final goal of the half thanks to a second Long goal off a Breanna Bailey (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) assist as they held a commanding 7-3 lead at the break.
The U of R put the game away in the third quarter outscoring the Vikings 4-1 as the advantage sat at seven. During that run Parker would add two, one of which was set up by Kvanvig, Kvanvig added another, and Danielle Cary (Riverside, CA), and Long would tack on the other two.
The final ten minutes were slower with no goals being added until the 4:50 mark when Augustana scored for the first time in over nine minutes, extending back to the first two minutes of the third quarter. But the three goals put up by the Vikings wouldn't be enough as Parker and Kvanvig would counter putting the game away.
Redlands took 24 shots for the game (.542) and were 3-of-7 on power plays. Kvanvig led the offense tallying three goals and four assists on seven shots. Parker (three goals and two assists), Bailey (two assists), Cary (one goal and one assist), Long (three goals), Portello (one goal and one assist), and Parker (three goals and two assists) all contributed to multiple goals.
In goal Tori Zielinski (Sunnyvale, CA) went the full 32:00 minutes, made 13 saves, registered a .650 save percentage, and had one steal.
Game 2 (Macalester, W, 14-8)
Kvanvig and Parker continued where they left off in the first game putting up the first two goals. The Bulldog defense was also tough as they held Macalester scoreless for the first 6:51 until they went back-to-back to tie the game up. Sawin though was able to give UR the advantage as she would connect inside with :19 seconds left moving the score to 3-2.
In the 2nd and 3rd Quarters Redlands outscored the Scots 8-2 and led 10-4 with 11. During the run Kvanvig scored a pair and Parker added a goal and a pair of assists.
Then in the fourth both teams found the back of the net four times as the final 10:00 minutes remained deadlocked. Long, Kvanvig, Sawin, and Sereg would all get tallies that helped lift UR to the six-goal victory.
Kvanvig had a massive day with four goals and one assist (seven goals and five assists on the day). Parker finished with two goals and two assists (five goals and four assists on the day). Zielinski played all 32:00 minutes with 12 more saves and even added an assist as she found Kvanvig for the Bulldogs 13th goal in the fourth quarter.
Redlands will now take their three-game winning streak into a conference road trip to Caltech next Saturday, March 12 beginning at 11:00am.