SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Day one of action of the 2024 Golden Coast Conference Women’s Water Polo Championship is in the books and the semifinals are set for Saturday as No. 2 Fresno State will take on No. 3 Pacific and No. 1 LMU will face No. 4 San Diego State.
Game 1: No. 3 Pacific 14, No. 6 Azusa Pacific 13 (SDOT)
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Can’t start much better than a sudden death overtime, and that is how action started with No. 3 seed and 21st-ranked Pacific earning a 14-13 win over No. 6 seed Azusa Pacific in game one of the 2024 GCC Championship.
Pacific’s Ella Cowan scored the game winner 51 seconds into the sudden death overtime frame to lift the Tigers back to the semifinals. The Tigers have advanced to every semifinal in the 11-year history of the GCC.
The Tigers Noemi Alaksza forced overtime when she scored with 1:47 left in regulation. The Tigers would take a 13-12 lead with 18 seconds left in the second overtime frame and looked to have the game wrapped up.
However, the Cougars found life as goalie Alex Airitam scored from just over half tank at the buzzer to send the game to the sudden death overtime frame.
Maria Box Pascual scored four goals and Maritza Ochoa had three points with two goals and an assist to lead Azusa Pacific (15-13). For Pacific (16-19), Cowan finished with six points on the game, scoring twice with four assists. Hila Futorian and Noemi Alaksza had five points each. Alaksza had a team-best four goals with an assist. Futorian added three goals and two assists.
Game 2: No. 2 Fresno State 22, Santa Clara 6
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No. 9 Fresno State started their defense of three-straight GCC tournament titles with an impressive 22-6 win over Santa Clara in the second game of the 2024 GCC Championships.
The No. 2 seeded Bulldogs (19-7) posted a 6-0 first quarter shutout and led 12-1 at halftime to coast to their fifth straight semifinal. The reigning GCC Tournament MVP Brooke Ochoa went for six points, scoring four goals with two assists. Robyn Greensdale had four goals.
Santa Clara (7-21) had three players with two points. Elle Fredrickson and Malaya Wright had two goals while Chloe Morrison had a goal and an assist.
Game 3: No. 4 San Diego State 16, No. 5 California Baptist 9
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San Diego State held California Baptist to 1-for-12 on the powerplay to earn a 16-9 win in the third game of the 2024 GCC Championships. The fourth-seeded and 23rd-ranked Aztecs scored 10 second half goals to advance to the semifinals.
Rose Kanemy and Mimi Stoupas had five points to lead the Aztecs (16-14). Stoupas had four goals while Kanemy had two goals and three assists. The fifth-seeded Lancers (11-18) were led by Kyra Kahahawai with four goals and an assist.
The Lancers finished just .083 percent on the powerplay while SDSU went 4-for-9 (.444). The Aztecs built a 7-2 lead and never saw it go below three goals.
Game 4: No. 1 LMU 13, No. 8 Concordia 3
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No. 6 and top-seeded LMU used a stingy defense to push them back to the GCC Women’s Water Polo Championship semifinals, defeating No. 8 seed Concordia 13-3 in the final game of day one at the 2024 Championships on Friday afternoon.
The Lions won their 19th straight game and improved their program best record to 26-2 thanks to a defensive effort that included eight field blocks and 17 steals. GCC Player of the Year Ruth Arino Ruiz had four of the steals and added two goals of the Lions. Lior Ben David had three-points with a goal and two assists.
Concordia (11-22) didn’t score until late in the third quarter with three players scoring a goal each.
LMU scored the game’s first 11 goals and didn’t allow a goal until Tamsyn Evezard scored a 6-on-5 goal with 1:47 left in the third quarter. The Lions held Concordia to just 3-for-18 shooting (16.7 percent).
SEMIFINAL SATURDAY
The matchups are set for Saturday’s semifinals. In a rematch of last year’s title game, No. 2 seed Fresno State will take on No. 3 seed Pacific in the first semifinal at 2 pm. It will be followed by No. 1 seed LMU taking on No. 4 seed San Diego State at 4 pm. The schedule for Saturday:
- Game 5 – Seventh Place Game: No. 7 Santa Clara vs. No. 8 Concordia – 10 am
- Game 6 – Fifth Place Game: No. 5 California Baptist vs. No. 6 Azusa Pacific – Noon
- Game 7 – Semifinal #1: No. 2 Fresno State vs. No. 3 San Diego State – 2 pm
- Game 8 – Semifinal #2: No. 1 LMU vs. No. 4 San Diego State – 4 pm
TRAFFIC NOTICE + PARKING FOR SATURDAY:
The city of Santa Clara will be conducting a 5/10k on the morning of Saturday, Apr. 27 and its route will cause some traffic delays between approximately 7:45 am until 10 am. For those arriving to the facility for game five of the GCC Championship at 10:00 am, we strongly advise that you plan for an extra 10-20 minutes of traffic based on your route to the facility and to park in the Guadalupe Lot across the street from the Leavey Center. For parking and more information, visit Tournament Central.
ROAD TO THE GCC CHAMPIONSHIP
Tickets are on sale now for the 2024 Golden Coast Conference Championship. Santa Clara will host the three-day tournament April 26-28 at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. General admission tickets are $15 for each day of action and will be treated as day passes. No all-session tickets will be available.
BUY TICKETS >>
For further information, contact the Santa Clara Athletics Ticket Office via email at
broncotickets@scu.edu.
LIVE STREAMING
All ten (10) games of the GCC Championship will be streamed live on the internet by new GCC partner
Overnght Media Group. This is the first season that Overnght will be streaming the GCC Championship. Links to all games of the championship will be posted on the
Tournament Central page. This new service will require a subscription fee for viewers to watch the games for a monthly fee of $9.99. Viewers can cancel their subscription at any time. For other specific questions about Overnght and their services, please visit their website at
www.overnght.com. They can also be reached via email at
support@overnght.com or their support line is (702) 625-5998.
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