PASADENA, Calif. — Rain did not dismay the Caltech women's water polo team on Saturday morning as the squad put up a valiant fight against the visiting Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges at home. The Beavers scored six goals against the SCIAC foe, who entered the contest ranked No. 1 in the nation among all Div. III teams.
The opening period began as a defensive battle, with no team finding the back of the net until the Beavers scored the game's first goal at 3:49; sophomore center
Mia Mutadich (London, U.K. / Notting Hill and Earling) earned the goal after receiving the feed from sophomore attacker
Madelyn Gilbert (Clovis, Calif. / Clovis East).
The Sagehens responded with a powerplay goal at 2:33, though the Beavers answered back two possessions later as senior defender
Riya Shrivastava (Saratoga, Calif. / Lynbrook) connected with sophomore utility
Maya Dickson (Atlanta, Ga. / North Atlanta), who fired a shot into the net to put Caltech up 2-1. The group protected its lead until the :39 mark of the quarter as the Sagehens tied the contest at 2-2 before the first buzzer sounded.
Senior attacker
Tyler Fox (Cos Cob, Conn. / Greenwich) earned a score in the second period with senior attacker
Emma Gurcan (Istanbul, Turkey / Lincoln HS) finding her for the assist.
Dickson scored her second goal of the day a little under two minutes into the second half after receiving the feed from Fox.
Gurcan scored two times in the final period, with her first score coming on a successful five-meter penalty shot that she drew while the second came a few minutes later as Shrivastava found her for the score.
Dickson and Gurcan both led the team with two goals apiece; Gurcan led all players with four drawn exclusions.
The Beavers will now focus on a pair of road games as they face the Whittier College Poets on Wednesday, Apr. 3 at 7 p.m. before taking on the Cal Lutheran University Regals on Saturday, Apr. 6 at 7 p.m. Caltech will then return to Braun Pool for a clash with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday, Apr. 10 at 7 p.m. Follow the action online at
gocaltech.com/coverage.
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