LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Mar. 2, 2022) – The Caltech Women's Water Polo team played their first road game of the 2022 season Wednesday night, taking on local SCIAC rival Occidental College. 

From the start, the Beavers encountered an unyielding defensive effort by the Tigers, but Caltech managed to keep the game close despite the resultant turnovers. Senior goalie Zoe Rock (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) managed a pair of crucial saves, including a critical stop of an Oxy penalty shot and another one in the final minute that led to Caltech's first goal. She played the full game without a substitution and recorded 13 saves.  

Junior utility player Amanda Piyapanee (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) put the Beavers on the scoreboard with five seconds remaining in the first quarter, making it a 3-1 score at the break. There were more last-minute heroics just before halftime as the Beavers capitalized on an Oxy offensive foul, and Sophia Slora found sophomore Emma Gurcan (Portland, Ore. / Lincoln) open to shoot, and she buried her shot with 11 seconds remaining. Piyapanee and Gurcan contributed on defense as well, each collecting two steals in the contest.

In the third frame, Gurcan drew a foul for a five-meter penalty shot, and sophomore Tyler Fox (Cos Cob, Conn. / Greenwich) ripped it into Oxy's net. While the Tigers scored on their next possession, so did the Beavers as sophomore Riya Shrivastava (Saratoga, Calif. / Lynbrook) quickly answered with a goal of her own. 

"I was very happy with how we finished the game tonight," said Head Coach Jon Bonafede. "We haven't turned the corner yet, but we have a lot of positive things going on. The team is really excited to come back to this pool for the next four games this weekend" 

The Beavers have two neutral site games scheduled for Friday, first at 1 p.m. against Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.) at Oxy, followed by a 7 p.m. tilt against Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) at Pomona-Pitzer.