LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo team continued its hunt for consistent offense at UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational Friday afternoon, but only Loretta Hovey, Zoe Gabriel and Isabel Valaika could find the back of the net in the Gauchos’ 17-3 loss to No. 11 UC Irvine to open the tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
There were things to like about Santa Barbara’s opening quarter, despite ending it in a three-goal deficit. The Gauchos stopped an Anteater five-meter penalty on the game’s opening possession, and they made the most of their first extra-attacker opportunity. One of the team’s captains, Valaika led from the front with a six-on-five goal at the 4:39 mark, making the score 2-1 at the time. When the horn sounded at the end of the frame, the score was 4-1, not out of reach by any means…