This past weekend, the Tritons had the exciting opportunity to play at our home pool at Canyonview Aquatic Center. This important league tournament would decide the seeding for the following weekends’ CWPA Southwest division championship tournament. 

The B team had a stellar weekend, finishing 2-2. Their first game was against San Diego State ‘B’. The team fought hard, winning all 4 sprints of the game, but unfortunately came up short, with a score of 2-8. Later that day, they played Grand Canyon University. A low scoring, hard fought battle resulted in the tritons beating the lopes, 3-1. The team came back the next day pumped for 2 more games. Their first opponent, Arizona State University, who they held close to in the first quarter, but ultimately, the sun devils pulled away, resulting in a final score of 3-12. Finally, that night, the ladies had another super close game. Against University of California, Irvine, the score was 1-1 at the end of the first quarter, and 1-2 at half. The crowd was on the edge of their seats as the tritons bested the anteaters 6-5 in the end. 

There were impressive performances all across the roster this weekend. On the defensive end, Goalie Jillian Horn recorded 30 blocks, including 2 huge 5-meter blocks. She also had 8 steals across the weekend. Ivy Goodwin and Natalie Champagne also had strong defensive weekends, with 3 and 5 steals respectively. Goodwin also had a beautiful half court buzzer beater in the 3rd game of the weekend (her second of the season!). Offensively, Elicia Dowell stood out with 5 goals. Olivia Schoos and Natalie Cantu drew an impressive 3 ejections each. Cantu also drew one five meter, along with Riley Cristat and Jaime van Rensburg.

The A team also had a fantastic tournament. The team went 4-0, outscoring their opponents a combined 69-15. The first game, they took on the wildcats from the University of Arizona, the final score was 20-2. Next, they played UCI, who they bested 20-3. The next day, the tritons had two hometown rivalry games: first up, San Diego State University ‘B’. The team took a commanding lead, the score 10-1 at halftime. In the end, the A team won 18-4. Finally, the biggest game of the weekend: UCSD ‘A’ vs SDSU ‘A’. The game was a nailbiter, goals back and forth until the end of the 3rd quarter, when it was 7-6. In the end, the tritons pulled ahead in the final quarter to finish the game 11-6.

That impressive of a weekend is bound to produce some standout stats. 3 players saw double digit goal counts this weekend, Sarah Horne, Natalie Kaplanyan, and Kayleigh Dennen (15, 13, and 10 respectively). Additionally, Julia Derunes recorded an astounding 12 assists. Derunes’ dominance didn’t stop on the offensive side of the pool, she also led with 11 steals and 2 field blocks. Defensively, the two goalies, Story Waxman and Alex Bussey each had double digit blocks, and really were the backbone of the entire defense. Waxman also had 4 steals and 2 assists. The team has been working hard to improve their power plays, and ended converting 11 out of 14 of their 6 on 5 opportunities, a key component in their success this weekend.

This past weekend was integral to determining the seeding for the next championship tournament. The A team is seeded 2nd and the B team is seeded 5th. Stay tuned for next weekend, when the teams travel a few miles south to San Diego State University, to fight for the championship and a qualifying spot at the CWPA National Tournament at UCLA.