Cal Maritime repeats last weekend’s performance with another CWPA tournament title
VALLEJO, Calif. – Competing in its second tournament in as many weeks, this weekend ended up matching last weekend's success when women's water polo posted another undefeated 4-0 record to capture the CWPA Tournament #3 championship.
In this weekend's event, hosted by UC Santa Cruz, the Keelhaulers won their rematch against Saint Mary's in the Tournament #3 opener, 9-7.
Fans who attended last CWPA Tournament #2 at PEAC Pool last weekend will remember a hard-fought championship match that saw the Gaels jump out to an early lead before CSUM took the lead for good the following period.
Saturday's other match that involved Cal Maritime ended with an 8-6 victory versus UC Davis in the first of consecutive matches between these teams.
Unfortunately, scoresheets were not provided by tournament officials for Saturday's matches.
Sunday's action opened with women's water polo squaring off against the Aggies once again; as was the case with yesterday's battle, the Keelhaulers collected another victory, this time by a 6-2 result.
Cal Maritime scored the first five goals, throughout the opening three periods, before UC Davis ended the Keelhaulers' shutout bid with 5:52 remaining.
After Anjali Sharma responded with a goal of her own 91 seconds later, the Aggies wrapped up scoring for that contest by finding the back of the cage with 2:26 left to play.
Of CSUM's streak of unanswered goals, Meghan Abbott scored three of the first five with Olivia Larwood responsible for the other two.
In women's water polo's final game of the tournament, against UC Santa Cruz, it wasted no time taking an early lead — the first goal was scored 16 seconds after the opening spring — and found the back of the cage four times before the Banana Slugs scored their first goal.
Leading 4-1 entering the second period, the Keelhaulers scored the only goal within that block of time; after halftime, CSUM's offense erupted by scoring four of the six goals recorded that quarter to hold a 9-3 lead entering the homestretch.
What started with a sprint won by Larwood continued with another four Keelhauler goals throughout the final period until the horn sounded, officially cementing Cal Maritime as tournament champions for the second week in a row.
Thanks to back-to-back undefeated weekends, CSUM will enter its nextc ompetition, the Sierra Pacific Division Tournament, as one of its top seeds. Action at this CWPA playoff event, hosted by Cal Maritime at PEAC Pool, will commence on March 16.
Once set by CWPA officials, GoKeelhaulers.com will announce opening day matchups.
Cal Maritime 9, Saint Mary's 7 (Sat.)
Scoresheets not provided by tournament officials
Cal Maritime 8, UC Davis 6 (Sat.)
Scoresheets not provided by tournament officials
Cal Maritime 6, UC Davis 2 (Sun.)
Cal Maritime Scoring
Meghan Abbott 3; Olivia Larwood 2; Anjali Sharma 1
UC Davis Scoring
A. Schamber 2
Cal Maritime 13, UC Santa Cruz 4 (Sun.)
Cal Maritime Scoring
Meghan Abbott, Olivia Larwood 4; Hannah Durheim, Alanna Hardin, Autumn Lashmet, Anjali Sharma, Maya Sortor 1
UC Santa Cruz Scoring
A. Sagebiel 2; H. Paron, J. Allen 1