PASADENA, Calif. (Mar. 23, 2022) - When the Caltech women's water polo team faced the Occidental College Tigers at the De Mandel Aquatics Center in early March, the result favored the home team.  Early on in tonight's game, the Beavers were determined to defend their home pool in hopes of grabbing their first SCIAC win of the season.  While the energy, effort and enthusiasm were fully displayed, the Beavers came up a few goals short, bowing 5-11 to their most proximate SCIAC foe. 

Offensively, Caltech was led by sophomore attacker sophomore Emma Gurcan (Portland, Ore. / Lincoln) who found the back of the net on four of the six shots she took in the evening, including a 5-meter penalty shot.  Gurcan's vigorous efforts at both ends of the pool led to three exclusion fouls, disqualifying her with 7:37 remaining in the fourth period as the scoreboard read 5-8 in favor of Occidental.  Junior utility player Amanda Piyapanee (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) also potted one of her three shots on the night, scoring the only other goal for Caltech in the evening.  Unfortunately, Piyapanee was also disqualified for committing her third exclusion foul with 5:03 remaining in the fourth, providing Head Coach Jon Bonafede an opportunity to enter more players into the game. 

"We have seven SCIAC games remaining this season and we are going to need everyone to help us down the stretch," says Bonafede.  "We firmly believe in each other and know that a breakout performance is coming soon.  We may not have gotten the result we were hoping for tonight, but we know that the team is improving and providing more opportunities for more players. This will be impactful this year, and well beyond." 

Sophomore attacker Tyler Fox (Cos Cob, Conn. / Greenwich) was able to fire seven shots on frame, but all were unfortunately corralled by the Occidental goalkeeper.   

The Beavers never led in the contest, but when Gurcan tied the game at 1-1 with 1:41 remaining in the first period, they found themselves locked in a great contest.  The Tigers quickly answered the threat by scoring their second goal of the game with 22 seconds remaining in the first period.  The second period saw the Tigers extend their lead as they scored three times before halftime, while only allowing the Beavers to notch one goal and maintaining a three-point lead at the end of the first half.  

The Beavers started the third quarter inspired.  After Gurcan netted a 5-meter penalty shot with 7:27 left in the third period, she brought Caltech back into the game, trailing 3-5.  The Beavers would get as close as two goals two more times on the night, the latest at 5-7 Occidental with 46 seconds left in the third period.  In the final period, four unanswered goals by the Tigers provided the visitors with a six-point lead in the contest as they claimed a 5-11 victory over the Beavers. 

Coach Bonafede and the women's water polo team will be back in action at home on Saturday, March 26, when they take on the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens at 11:00 am. Follow the game's livestream and live stats at GoCaltech.com.