Fresno State earns piece of 2021 GCC regular season title with 22-7 victory over Santa Clara

Saturday, April 17

Santa Clara, Calif.

1:00 P.M. PT

Fresno State

Santa Clara

Photo by: FRESNO STATE BRAND STRATEGY AND MARKETING - PHOTO BY CARY EDMONDSON

Fresno State earns piece of 2021 GCC regular season title with 22-7 victory over Santa Clara

4/17/2021 8:52:00 PM | Water Polo

By: Taylor Martinez / Strategic Communications Assistant

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The No. 11 Fresno State water polo team finished Golden Coast Conference play with a dominant 22-7 win over Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs (10-5, 6-1 GCC) took a piece of the GCC regular season championship, finishing in a three-way tie for first place with San Diego State and Pacific.

"The team played well today, and we were able to get quality minutes for everyone on the roster," head coach Natalie Benson said. "We had another balanced day offensively, and made some improvements defensively. We finished the regular season tied for first, and look forward to the conference championship next weekend."

Freshman Tori Gacutan led the Bulldogs on offense with a season-high three goals in the contest. In goal, Hope Stokes and Kate Watley split time. The duo chalked eight saves.

Additional goal scorers included Emily Nicholson (2), Maddie Loggins (2), Callie Woodruff (2), Cynthia Rosa (2), Megan Greenwood (2), Kaitlin Howarth (2), Claire Schade (2), Yesenia Preciado and Daphne Guevremont.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Fresno State made a statement to start the game going on a 7-0 run through first eight minutes, completely shutting out Santa Clara in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs tacked another goal to start the second quarter before the Broncos finally found the back of the net. Fresno State went on another offensive frenzy, scoring five consecutive goals to take a 12-1 lead. The Broncos would manage to score one more goal before the half.

Fresno State opened the third quarter with a 4-0 run, including two goals from Sonkoly. The Broncos ended the run by netting their third goal of the game, but Greenwood countered with a goal for the Bulldogs to take a 17-3 lead into the final quarter.

Greenwood made it back-to-back goals, to open scoring in the fourth quarter. Santa Clara was able to string together two consecutive goals for the first time in the contest, but Gacutan responded with back-to-back goals of her own to chalk a hat trick on the day. The Bulldogs would outscore the Broncos 2-1 in the final minute. Fresno State earned its sixth win of conference play, the most in program history, with a 22-7 victory.

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE GCC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2021 GCC Women's Championships will be held at the University of the Pacific's Chris Kjeldsen Pool April 23-24.

This year's GCC Championship is a four-team field with the top four teams earning a bid to this year's field. Fresno State, San Diego State and Pacific all finished the 2021 conference race at 6-1 and share the regular season championship. All three punched their ticket. The fourth place spot was also a three-way tie between California Baptist, Azusa Pacific and LMU at 3-4.

All four seeds went deep into the tiebreaker rules, with it being settled by goal differential in games played against the teams tied.

Fresno State earns the top spot with a goal differential of +2 against Pacific and San Diego State. The Aztecs take the No. 2 seed (even) and Pacific the No. 3 seed (-2). As for the fourth seed, CBU had a goal differential of +5, while Azusa Pacific was at -2 and LMU at -3.

As the No. 1 seed, Fresno State will open the tournament against No. 4 Cal Baptist on Friday, April 23 at 3 p.m. PT.