No. 7 San Jos? State Defeats Bakersfield 13-10

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--No. 7 San José State (20-11, 2-4 MPSF) defeated Bakersfield (12-20, 0-6 MPSF) 13-10 in the final regular season Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo match Friday afternoon at the Hillman Aquatics Complex.

The Spartans led 5-4 at halftime, but the 'Runners took the lead on a pair of goals from Bridgette Souza (R-Jr., La Jolla, Calif., Sonoma State) and Paige Tsuruda (Sr., Honolulu, Hawai'i, Word of Life Academy). San José State outscored the Roadrunners 5-2 over the next 3:53, led by Timi Molnar who had two of her team leading four tallies during the span.

Bakersfield closed to within one, 11-10, with 2:43 to play in the fourth when Taylor Hanson (Sr., Modesto, Calif., Johansen HS) converted on a Roadrunner power play for her fourth goal of the day. CSUB got a stop and looked to tie the score, but turned the ball over in the San José State end of the pool with 1:49 to play. The Spartans capitlized, scoring on their final two offensive attacks of the match to make it the final 13-10.

It was a physical match as a total of 26 exclusions were called with a total of four players (two on each side) fouling out. Bakersfield posted six of their goals (in 14 attempts) on 6-on-5 chances while the Spartans were 6-of-12 off of CSUB penalties. Tsuruda had a hat trick for the Roadrunners while Shelby scored twice. Rachel Henry, Cara Robinson, and Rae Lekness each had two goals for San José State.

"San Jose is a great team," said Bakersfield head coach Jason Gall. "I think we have such a young team that it took this point to realize that we can play with anybody. We had some opportunities on offense that we didn't take advantage of."

The Roadrunners will be the seventh seed at next week's MPSF Tournament at USC. CSUB will play the second seed, UCLA next Friday at 10:30 a.m.

San José State 2 3 5 3 13
Bakersfield 2 2 4 2 10

San José State Goals-Timi Molnar 4, Rachel Henry 2, Cara Robinson 2, Rae Lekness 2, Dani Styles 1, Clara Espar Llaquet 1, Alisa Argend 1.

Bakersfield Goals-Taylor Hanson 4, Paige Tsuruda 3, Janelle Shelby 2, Bridgette Souza 1

San José State Saves-Katelyn Thompson 10

Bakersfield Saves-Courtney Wahlstrom 8

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Hanson: Free; 5' 6"; Sophomore

Janelle Shelby: Free; 5' 4"; Freshman

#12 Paige Tsuruda: Driver; 5' 5"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Taylor Hanson
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: Free

Janelle Shelby
: 5' 4"; Freshman
: Free

#12 Paige Tsuruda
: 5' 5"; Freshman
: Driver

Players Mentioned

Taylor Hanson

Janelle Shelby

#12 Paige Tsuruda

Players Mentioned

Taylor Hanson

Janelle Shelby

#12 Paige Tsuruda