SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The Sonoma State women's water polo team suffered a pair of losses to open its 2017 season, starting with a 16-7 defeat at the hands of No. 11 UC San Diego, followed by a narrow 7-4 loss to No. 22 California Baptist several hours later at the UC Santa Barbara Winter Invite in Santa Barbara on Saturday. 

The Seawolves (0-2) will wrap up play at the UCSB Winter Invite Sunday against No. 23 Cal State Northridge (9:10 am) and Marist (1:30 pm).

#11 UC San Diego 16, Sonoma State 7 -- Box Score

After giving up a goal to the Tritons on the first possession of the game, the Seawolves responded with two unanswered scores by Taylor Brown and Nicole Groat to take a 2-1 lead just two minutes in.  UCSD came back with two goals of their own to take a brief one-goal lead, but Groat scored her second of three goals on the day to even the score at 3-3 midway through the opening period.

At that point, UC San Diego began to pull away, caging five unanswered goals to take a commanding 8-3 lead, but goals by Keira Dailey and Brown cut the deficit to three, 8-5, heading into the intermission.

It was all Tritons in the second half, as the four-time defending WWPA champions outscored the Seawolves 8-2 the rest of the way, including a 5-1 margin in the third quarter, to beat Sonoma, 16-7.

While Groat led the team with three goals, Lyndsie Williams handed out a team-high three assists.  Goalie Taylor Plorin made nine saves and three steals in the cage for the Seawolves.

For UCSD, All-Americans Alexis Wieseler and Lauren Boyer each scored four goals apiece while Chanel Schilling added three.  Freshman goalie Reilly Gallagher made six saves in her collegiate debut. 

#22 California Baptist 7, Sonoma State 4 -- Box Score

Saturday's nightcap featured stellar defensive efforts by both squads, especially early on.  Nicole Groat threw one into the cage to break a scoreless tie at the 3:06 mark of the first quarter, but that would be the extent of the offense by both the Seawolves and Lancers after the first eight minutes of play. 

California Baptist did have excellent opportunities to get on the scoreboard, but Plorin blocked two five-meter penalty attempts by CBU in the first quarter to keep the nationally-ranked Lancers at zero.

It would be short-lived , though, as CBU broke through at the 6:41 mark of the second period to knot the score at 1-1.  Both teams then traded goals and went into halftime tied 2-2. It would become a 3-3 ballgame in the third period before Cal Baptist took its first lead of the day, a 4-3 advantage at the 2:38 mark, but Dailey tied things up at 4-4 with five minutes to go in regulation.  That's when CBU pulled away, scoring three unanswered goals in the final 4:30 to take the 7-4 win.

Groat, Williams, Dailey and Lily Carlon all scored one goal each for the Seawolves in the loss.  Plorin made 14 saves in goal.