WHITTIER, Calif. — The University of La Verne women's water polo team beat Caltech in the play-in game of the 2014 SCIAC Championships, but was bounced from the championship bracket by the first-seeded Pomona-Pitzer on Friday and finished eighth in the conference.

Chapionship Play-in: La Verne 15, Caltech 3

Both teams got off to a slow start as La Verne scored the only goal in the first period, but the Leopards exploded for six goals in the second quarter to pull away from Beavers en route to a 15-3 win.

La Verne freshman Frances Viste led all scorers with three goals, all of which came in the second half. Viste scored the last goal in the third quarter to give the Leopards a 11-2 lead and netted two more in the final quarter to seal the win.

Catie Tuning opened the scoring at the 6:24 mark in the first quarter, but both teams locked down defensively and La Verne took a slim 1-0 lead into the first break.

Lora Marquez-Salgado notched the first goal of the second period just 30 seconds in, and the floodgates opened. Sarah Jefferis and Amber Tardif followed with a score each to give the Leopards a 4-0 lead. Then Stephanie Fugit, Maddie Lovrensky and Justine Mojarro each added one after Caltech's Monica Enlow briefly stopped the Beavers' bleeding at the 3:24 mark to extend the lead to 7-1 heading into halftime.

Four different Leopards scored in the third quarter and Kimberly Lopez scored in the fourth quarter to go along with Viste's pair.

In all, 11 different Leopards scored in the game for La Verne

Quarterfinals: Pomona-Pitzer 11, La Verne 6

The Leopards almost matched the first-seeded Sagehens' goal output in the second half, but a slow start doomed them in an 11-6 loss.

Mojarro scored the first goal of the game at about the 5:24 mark, but the Sagehens six unanswered goals stretching into late second quarter to give themselves a cushion.

Tardif scored the last goal of the first half and Lovrensky put in the first of the second half to cut the deficit to 6-3, but that was as close as the Leopards would get.

Lovrensky and Mojarro each finished with two goals.

Pomona-Pitzer's Alyssa Woodward had a game-high five.

Consolation: Cal Lutheran 12, La Verne 9

La Verne matched Cal Lutheran goal-for-goal in the final three periods, but a slow start was once again the downfall as the Leopards lost, 12-9, in the consolation game.

The Regals took a 3-0 lead after the first quarter and that turned out to be the final difference in the game.

The Leopards got within one goal on two different occasions, but each time the Regals went on a mini-runs to keep the Leopards at bay. Marquez-Salgado made it 6-5 Regals at the 5:18 mark in the third and Catie Tuning got La Verne within 9-8 early in the fourth quarter, but the Regals finished the game on a 3-1 run to close the game out.

Tardif got the Leopards on the board about two minutes into the second quarter and Melanie Consgilio, Marquez-Salgado, and Mojarro each added a score in the period to outscore the Regals, 4-3.

Tardif led the Leopards with a hat trick. Tuning and Marquez-Salgado each finished with one.

Jordan Card finished with a game-high five goals for Cal Lutheran.

La Verne will take on Chapman in the seventh-place game tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Seventh-place Game: Chapman 16, La Verne 7

The Leopards were held scoreless in the first period for the second game in a row and spotted the Panthers with a 6-0 lead to start the game.

By the time Mojarro got the Leopards on the board with three minutes left in the second quarter, it was already too late, and the closest La Verne would get was within five goals.

Jefferis, Marquez-Salgado and Mojarro each had two goals and Stephanie Fugit had one for the Leopards.

Three players notched a hat trick for Chapman and Miranda Estrella led all goal scoreres with four.

Pomona-Pitzer won the championship with a 7-4 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.