BOX SCORE: No. 2 Sonoma State 14, No. 5 Gannon 5POST-GAME INTERVIEW: Head Coach Coralie SimmonsGENEVA, Ohio -- Led by the three goals from
Noelle Herrera and
Kaysie Lewis, the Sonoma State women's water polo team jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the third quarter and never looked back, defeating Gannon University, 14-5, in the opening round of the 2015 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Women's Championships on Friday at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
The Seawolves, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, improved to 9-18 this season while the No. 5 seed Lady Knights fell to 3-14.
Friday's win for Sonoma sets up a semifinal matchup on Saturday with No. 4 seed Cal State East Bay, which held off No. 3 seed Cal State Monterey Bay for a thrilling 12-11 victory in overtime in the first game of the tournament. First sprint is scheduled for 10:15 am Pacific Time (1:15 pm Eastern Time). The winner of Saturday's contest will then advance to Sunday's championship game, while the loser will play for third place, also on Sunday.
Jessica Becker, Lewis and
Alexa May each scored a goal in the opening period to take a 3-0 lead before Lewis,
Lexii Morabito and Herrera added goals in the second for the 6-0 halftime lead.
Shannon Baer padded the lead to seven wtih her goal to begin the third quarter before Gannon's Alison Cooney finally put on in for the Lady Knights at the 5:23 mark of the third period. The Seawolf lead got up to as much as nine at 12-3 when Lewis completed her hat trick with 7:19 left in regulation before Sonoma eventually took the 14-5 victory.
The Seawolves were 3 for 12 in powerplay opportunities while forcing the Lady Knights to go 0 for 8 in their advantages.
Andrea Mallul made seven saves before giving way to
Mikayla Kloss with seven minutes to play in the contest. Kloss had two stops in the cage. Baer and
Brittny Hummel had two goals each, while
Kennedy Fald, Becker, May and Morabito all had one to complement the hat tricks by both Herrera and Lewis.
Cooney led the way for Gannon with two goals on offense.
