BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—Ioanna Haralabidis scored five goals to lead No. 3 USC past CSU Bakersfield 19-5 in MPSF water polo action Sunday afternoon.
The Roadrunners kept it close early on, taking a 2-1 lead on the first of three Bridgette Souza (R-Sr., La Jolla, Calif., Sonoma State) goals 2:58 into the match. Goals from Haralabidis and Hayley McKelvey gave USC a 4-2 lead after the first quarter. The Women of Troy pushed the lead to 5-2 when goals from Niki De Leon (Jr., Montebello, Calif., Montebello HS) and Souza cut the advantage to 5-4 with 4:30 to play in the second quarter.
A 6-on-5 Melissa Bergesen goal and a goal from Hayley McKelvey increased the lead to 7-4 when Souza scored what proved to be the final CSUB goal of the match. Leading 7-5, USC scored two goals in the final 46 seconds of the second quarter to lead by four at halftime.
USC (19-2, 2-1 MPSF) did not allow CSUB to take a shot in the third quarter. Haralabidis scored twice as the Women of Troy put up five in the eight-minute stanza. Stephania Haralabidis led USC in the fourth quarter, posting two of the five Women of Troy goals. USC outscored CSUB 5-0 in the final period.
Stephania Haralabidis would score three goals for USC. Jennifer Stiefel, Eike Daube, Monica Vavic, and McKelvey all charted two goals. Nicola Barrett (R-So., Cape Town, South Africa, Rustenburg HS) scored the other CSUB goal.
“Even though the score wasn't as close as it was against Cal, we made some improvements,” said CSUB head coach Jason Gall. “It's hard to maintain the high level of performance for four quarters when the other team has more depth. We are starting to believe that we can play with these teams, but we have to learn to maintain the intensity for four quarters.”
CSUB (12-13, 0-4 MPSF) travels to Cal State East Bay Apr. 11 before resuming MPSF action at No. 2 Stanford Apr. 12 in Palo Alto.
~www.GoRunners.com~
USC 4 5 5 5 19
CSUB 2 3 0 0 5
USC Goals-I. Haralabidis 5, S. Haralabidis 3, Vavic 2, Daube 2, McKellvey 2, Stiefel 2, Bergesen 1, Appel 1, Stansfield 1
CSUB Goals-Souza 3, De Leon 1, Barrett 1
USC Saves-Chamooro 5
CSUB Saves-Wahlstrom 8
