IRVINE, Calif. – Junior Karli Canale picked up her second hat trick of the season, but it wasn't enough for No. 16 San Diego State water polo to defeat No. 5 UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon as the Aztecs fell 12-8.
Canale scored two goals in the opening quarter, got another early in the second period and also added two steals and an assist to her stat line. She was joined in the scoring column by Emily Bennett with two tallies and Maddy Parenteau, Shelby Kraft and Dayna Bond who scored one goal each. Goalie Jordann Heimback went the distance and made five saves.
UC Irvine scored the first three goals in the opening stanza, with only a Canale strike stemming the tide. The Anteaters then struck for two more goals before another Canale tally got San Diego State (7-9) to within 5-2 after eight minutes.
Canale got the first score of the second period, her third goal of the game, but UCI (13-5) then ripped off another three goals to go up 8-3. Kraft stopped the UC Irvine run with a goal at the two-minute mark to send the teams to the half with the Anteaters up 8-4.
The teams scored two goals each in the third and fourth quarter.
Coming out of the intermission, the Aztec tallies came from Parenteau at 4:56 and Bond at 2:43.
In the final quarter, Bennett got both Aztec strikes for the final score of 12-8.
San Diego State was successful on 8-of-26 shots. The Aztecs got five assists on its eight goals, led by two from Isabell Hastings. Parenteau, Kraft and Canale also had assists. Defensively the team had 12 steals with Parenteau topping the team with four. Hastings, Bennett and Canale had two each.