Courtesy: Cal Athletics
TEMPE, Arizona – Junior center Kitty Lynn Joustra scored a career-high six goals and sophomore Cecily Turner registered a clinching score with 38 seconds remaining to lead the No. 4 Cal women’s water polo team to a 13-11 defeat of No. 14 Indiana in the Fifth Place Game of the MPSF Championships on Sunday.
Junior Elli Protopapas also added a hat trick with three goals for the Bears (12-7) while freshman Maddie DeMattia scored twice. Senior Claire Sonne had a pair of assists.
Joustra’s offensive output was the most goals scored by a Cal player since Emma Wright tallied seven against San Jose State in the first round of the 2019 MPSF Championships. It’s also just the 17th time in program history a Golden Bear has scored at least six goals in a game.
The Bears never trailed Sunday but could never completely shake the Hoosiers. Cal opened up a 6-3 lead early in the second quarter only to see Indiana record three goals in a row to tie the game with 2:52 left before halftime. It was 7-7 at the intermission.
Joustra scored the first two goals of the third quarter and followed with another after the Hoosiers had cut it to 9-8. Back-to-back goals by senior Brigit Mulder and Joustra gave the Bears a 12-9 lead with 3:05 to play. Indiana answered with consecutive goals of its own to make it 12-11 with 1:10 left, but Turner rifled in a shot as the play clock was winding down to put the game away.
DeMattia, the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Week, also made two steals while fellow freshman Maryn Dempsey had an assist. Senior goalie Cassidy Ball made six saves.
The Bears will now wait to hear their NCAA Championships fate. The NCAA Women’s Water Polo Selection Show airs Monday at 5 p.m. PT on NCAA.com.
Courtesy: Indiana Athletics
TEMPE, Ariz. – In a back-and forth contest on Sunday afternoon, the No. 14-ranked Indiana University water polo team dropped a closely-played game to No. 4 California in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe, Ariz.
With the setback, IU finishes the 2021 season 10-17 overall and 2-13 in MPSF action. California’s victory takes it to 12-7 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
KEY MOMENTS
- Sophomore Katherine Hawkins opened the scoring for the Hoosiers following an assist from fellow sophomore Zoe Crouch.
- Sophomore Lanna Debow leveled the score midway through the first period on a goal at the 3:57 mark.
- Debow added her second of the first period with an even-strength goal right before the end of the first period.
- Just two minutes into the second period, Debow secured the hat-trick by putting the ball into the back of the net off a pass from junior Tina Doherty.
- Hawkins added her second of the day on a powerplay goal with an assist from freshman Kiki Mein to bring IU within one goal.
- Doherty added a goal just moments later to tie the score at 6-6 and bring IU all the way back from three goals down.
- Doherty added one more goal right before the half to tie the game at 7-7 heading into the break.
- Freshman Kallie White scored IU’s first goal of the second half to bring the Hoosiers back within one in the fourth period.
- Hawkins scored one more to secure her hat-trick and IU’s second hat-trick of the day.
- Junior Izzy Mandema recorded a goal late in the fourth period to bring IU within one goal and to force California into a timeout.
NOTABLES
- Junior goalie Mary Askew recorded a career-high 14 saves in the contest against the Golden Bears. It was also her fifth-straight game with double-digit saves.
- Debow added four goals on the afternoon for the Hoosiers. This was Debow’s fifth game of the season with three or more goals.
- Hawkins scored a hat-trick, her third of the season.
- Mandema finished the season with 62 goals on the season. That was the team-high on the year and takes her to 128 for her career so far.
• Crouch finished the campaign with a team-high 45 assists. She also tied Deb Simone and Lauren Wyckoff for 10thplace on the single-season assists list. - Askew led the team with 44 steals and 208 saves on the season. She is now eighth all-time in program history with 387 career saves.
@INDIANAWPOLO
• For all the latest on Indiana University women’s water polo, be sure to follow the team at @IndianaWPolo on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.