CLAREMONT, Calif. — The University of La Verne women's water polo team defeated Caltech, 16-5, in the first game of the Claremont Convergence, hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer on March 6-8.
Game 1: La Verne 16, Caltech 5
Lora Marquez-Salgado scored five goals, Catie Tuning had three and La Verne cruised to a 16-5 win over Caltech in the first game of the Claremont Convergence.
The score would have been more lopsided had the Leopards not taken their foot off the pedal in the second half. La Verne took a 13-4 going into half time, added three goals in the third quarter and spent the rest of the half killing the clock.
Marquez-Salgado and Tuning got the Leopards off to a fast start. Tuning opened the scoring three minutes into the game and Marquez-Salgado scored two in row to get the Leopards a 3-0 lead.
The Leopards never looked back. Tuning notched the first goal of the second quarter, Marquez-Salgado netted three more in a span of just over two minutes and La Verne tallied a total of eight goals in the second quarter. Amber Tardif, Jacqueline Rojas and Caitlyn Wilson all got on the board for La Verne in the second quarter.
Hailey Westwood and Mary Carillo each notched six saves for La Verne in net.
Soumya Kannan and Shalini Majumdar each had two goals for the Beavers.
Game 2: Sonoma St. 12, La Verne 7
The Leopards hung with Division II Sonoma State, but the Seawolves rode a five-goal third quarter to earn a 12-7 win.
The Leopards outscored the Seawolves in the opening quarter and went into the break trailing by only one goal.
But Sonoma State rattled off four straight goals to start the second half to grab a 9-4 lead and the Leopards never recovered. Nicole Browning scored two and Noelle Herrera and Alexa May each found the net during the run for the Seawolves.
Jacqueline Rojas, Megan Little and Catie Tuning scored two goals apiece.
Hailey Westwood played all 32 minutes and made eight saves in goal.
Game 3: Concordia (Calif.) 11, La Verne 8
La Verne surged late but could not overcome an early deficit in an 11-8 loss Concordia (Calif.) in the first game on Saturday.
La Verne outscored the NAIA Concordia, 7-5, in the second half behind six combined goals by Emily Randall and Catie Tuning.
But the Leopards allowed six straight goals to start the game and only managed a lone goal in the first half to fall in a hole. Randall stopped the bleeding with 1:35 to go in the first half but a five-goal deficit against a scholarship opponent proved too big a task.
La Verne did fight to the end. After Tayla Walsh gave the Eagles an 11-5 lead with four minutes remaining, the Leopards scored three consecutive goals in less than two minutes to pull within three goals with 1:35 to go. But Concordia clamped down and the Leopards were unable to find the back of the net again.
Randall finished with four goals to lead La Verne and goalie Hailey Westwood turned away 11 shots.
Walsh had a game-high six goals for Concordia.
Game 4: UC San Diego 17, La Verne 4
The Leopards could not match the firepower of CWPA No. 19 UC San Diego in a 17-4 loss in the final game of the tournament.
The Tritons recorded five goals in the first quarter and scored at least four every frame.
Megan Little had two goals for La Verne.
Eight different players got on the scoresheet for UCSD and six of them had multiple goals.
Hailey Westwood recorded nine saves for La Verne and Courtney Miller turned away 13 for the Tritons.
La Verne returns to action on Wednesday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Penn St.-Behrend for the home opener.