By Madyson Montoya (@MadysonMontoya ):
San Jose State women’s water polo defeated Fresno State and UC Berkeley over the weekend, but fell to UC Irvine and Stanford.
In the first match of the four-game slate a 5-0 second quarter propelled the No. 7 ranked Anteaters to victory, ultimately topping the Spartans 13-6 in the morning match.
That same afternoon, SJSU faced conference competitor, No. 22 Fresno State. The Spartans and Bulldogs were toe-to-toe until the final frame, where two goals late gave SJSU the win, 6-5.
Sophomore driver Caroline Kerwin, tied the game in the fourth with her first goal this season. Not long after, freshman driver Lili Urvari scored the goal that put the Spartans ahead.
Sunday morning, SJSU faced Cal Cup host, UC Berkeley, in an exhibition game. It was a Spartan victory of 9-7 against the No. 2 ranked team.
The final match of four featured a daunting task against the best Division I team in the pool, the Stanford Cardinal.
Senior Jordan Milich-Misikini scored at the end first frame, placing the team only two points behind Stanford.
Freshmen Urvari and Natalie Hosmer put up a point each in the third quarter, but the Spartans gave up seven points to Stanford in the second half.
In the end, Stanford’s well-coached style of play guided them to a convincing 15-4 win over San Jose State.
After splitting the weekend, this weekend’s tournament nonetheless was great practice for the No. 16 Spartans as it heads to the Stanford Invitational next weekend in Palo Alto.