LOS ANGELES – No. 10 Caltech Women's Water Polo took its shortest road trip of the season Wednesday night, facing off against the Occidental Tigers in the most anticipated SCIAC matchup of the 2023 season, and the game certainly delivered on excitement.

Defense and special teams highlighted the night it it took two and a half minutes for Occidental to break the deadlock with the opening goal. Caltech quickly responded as first-year Madelyn Gilbert found the net fifteen seconds later to knot it up 1-1. The Beavers then very quickly capitalized on a Tiger foul as junior Emma Gurcan blasted her five-meter penalty shot past the Oxy goalkeeper to take a 2-1 lead.

Occidental tied the game 2-2 at the 3:33 mark and then gained a 3-2 lead just before the first quarter buzzer, but Caltech stormed out of the gate to start the second quarter with three quick goals from Gurcan, junior Tyler Fox, and capped by rookie Mia Mutadich netting another powerplay goal to grab a 5-3 lead and drawing a timeout by the Tigers. The hosts leveled it again with a pair of goals, but the Beavers had the last word of the half as Mutadich scored her second goal with 17 seconds left in the period.

The teams switched sides and the game turned increasingly defensive with just four total goals in the last 16 minutes. Each team took advantage of exclusion fouls, first with Gilbert scoring her second of the night and the Beavers' fourth goal following Occidental fouls at the 4:23 mark of the third. The Tigers fought all the way back while their goalkeeper turned away a barage of Caltech shots for an untarnished fourth quarter. A critical takeaway by the Beavers in the last minute gave them one last breath after a timeout to plot out their most critical possession, culminating in a shot knocked down by the Oxy netminder with inches to spare.

Head Coach Jon Bonafede and the Beavers will return home to Braun Pool on Saturday morning to host the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens.