Women’s Water Polo Falls To Top Ranked Teams On Final Day Of The Cal Cup

Sunday, January 26

Berkeley, Calif.

9:30 a.m.

Long Beach State University

California

Long Beach State

California

Photo by: Luiza Moraes

Women’s Water Polo Falls To Top Ranked Teams On Final Day Of The Cal Cup

1/26/2025 4:03:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Martina Cardona netted a career high of six goals against the Bears.

By: Luiza Moraes - Athletic Communication Assistant

BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 8 Long Beach State dropped two games to close the Cal Cup. Despite Martina Cardona's new career-high of six goals against No. 4 California, the Beach couldn't stop the National Champions runner ups as the Bears defeated LBSU, 16-11. The Spaniard had an impressive game shooting 75% but Cal's strong second half didn't allow the Beach for a comeback. Against No. 2 Stanford, the Beach started ahead with an early 3-1 lead, but the Cardinal went on a 6-0 run by the end of the third quarter and controlled the game to defeat Long Beach State, 14-7.

The Beach (2-4) started the second day of action at the Cal Cup facing the hosts No. 4 California (5-0). The game started with both teams trading goals early in the first period with senior Martina Cardona adding two goals for the Beach as the score was 2-2 with under three minutes left. Cardona's second goal of the game was her 100th career-goal for the Beach. The Bears scored back-to-back goals at the end of the quarter to take the lead after eight minutes, 4-2.

It took the Beach 90 seconds to tie the game as Cardona won the sprint and scored right after. After an offensive foul by Cal, junior Elisa Portillo got on the board to tie the game on a counterattack. The Bears answered back quickly with two goals, but Cardona kept het hot shooting to close the gap for the Beach with under six minutes left on the clock. Cal answered back but after a strong effort on defense with Amanda Price blocking an attempt by the Bears, the graduate student added one for the Beach on an extra player situation. Not letting the Beach tie the game, Cal added two more goals to extend their lead, 9-6 but a buzzer beater by Portillo left the Beach trailing the Bears 9-7 at half.

The Bears opened the second half missing a penalty shot as Nina Flynn hit the post, and the Beach answered back with freshman Brooklyn Plomp adding her first of the game to close the gap, 9-8. A second penalty opportunity by Cal was converted as they opened another two-goal lead over the Beach. Cardona tied her career-high of five goals to put the Beach within one with five minutes left on the third. Cal stopped the Beach momentum in the quarter adding two more goals and earning a three-goal lead over Long Beach State, 12-9. Senior Jamie Oberman made it a two-goal game one more time adding her first of the weekend but a late goal by the Bears closed the third, 13-10.

In the last period, California scored an early goal to take the largest lead of the game, 14-10. Cardona's new career-high of six goals put the Beach trailing by three with under five minutes left. Not letting the Beach close the gap again, the Bears added another two goals to close the game 16-11. Senior Chelsea Oliver added six saves in the match.

Against No. 2 Stanford (4-0), the Beach showed a lot of energy right away, as Long Beach State took the early lead with junior Elisa Portillo scoring two goals with under two minutes. Stanford got on the board with a counterattack goal by Olympian Ryann Neushul with under three minutes left in the first. Freshman Zelma Koka scored her first of the day to extend the lead for the Beach, 3-1. Just before the buzzer, Stanford added another goal to cut the Beach lead to one.

The Cardinal scored two goals in the third to take the lead of the game with three minutes left, 4-3 but a beautiful shot by freshman Brooklyn Plomp tied the game right after. Stanford closed the second quarter with two straight goals and the Beach went into halftime trailing 6-4.

At the second half of the match, Stanford continued their run from before half and added four unanswered goals on the third period to extend their lead over the Beach with one quarter left, 10-4.

Koka got her second of the game to stop the Stanford 6-0 run with six minutes left in the game, but the Cardinal sneaked one past goalie Charly Edler leading 11-6 with 4:30 left. Junior Hailey Multz got one past the goalkeeper to cut the lead, but the Cardinal answered back quickly to lead 12-6 with 2:45 left. Freshman Rita Gurri Capel added her first, but Stanford closed the game with back-to-back goals to defeat the Beach, 14-7.

The Beach will be back in action the Triton Invite on January 30 at 5:20 p.m. to face No. 19 San Diego State. The following matches of the tournament will depend on the result of the game against the Aztecs.