SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Carleigh Robinson combined to score seven goals in two games Saturday, leading the Sonoma State women's water polo team to a 10-8 victory over Fresno Pacific before taking Santa Clara to the wire in a narrow 8-7 loss to end the day at the Sullivan Aquatic Center in Santa Clara. The Seawolves move to 2-5 on the season.
Sonoma State will head south to La Jolla next weekend to compete in the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego. The Seawolves open the tournament up against Arizona State on Saturday at 8:00 am.
Sonoma State 10, Fresno Pacific 8 -- Box Score
Lyndsie Williams and
Nicole Groat each turned in a hat trick in the first game of the day on Saturday to lift Sonoma to its second win of the year. The game was tied at 7-7 after Fresno Pacific evened the score with 5:48 to go in the game, but Groat caged two goals on back-to-back possessions to give the Seawolves the lead. It would prove to be enough, but Robinson sailed one in for good measure for the 10-8 triumph.
In addition to her three goals, Williams recorded an assist, grabbed five steals and drew two exclusions in the contest. Groat's three goals complemented her three assists and two steals, Robinson had two goals and two assists, and
Lily Carlon netted a goal to go along with four assists and two field blocks.
Taylor Brown also scored for SSU.
Taylor Plorin and
Lisa Rodarmel shared time in the cage, each making four saves in the victory.
Santa Clara 8, Sonoma State 7 -- Box Score
In the afternoon matchup with Santa Clara, Sonoma State jumped out to a 4-1 lead just before halftime, thanks to three goals by Robinson and another by Carlon, but the Broncos cut the SSU lead in half just before halftime to make it 4-2 in favor of the Seawolves with one half remaining. Santa Clara scored two more unanswered goals to knot the score at 4-4 before Groat put SSU back on top, 5-4 with 4:00 to play in the third quarter. The teams would go back and forth until the score was 7-7 with three minutes left in regulation.
Santa Clara's Cathi Cantoni threw in the go-ahead goal with 1:23 to go to make it 8-7 in favor of the hosts. Both teams traded unsuccessful possessions, putting the ball in the Seawolves' hands in the final seconds, but two shots - one by Brown and one by Robinson - were saved by SCU goalie Francesca Puccinelli to secure the win for Santa Clara.
Robinson ended the game with five of Sonoma's seven goals. Plorin and Rodarmel again saved four shots each on the other end of the pool.
