SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—No. 12 UC Santa Barbara defeated No. 23 CSU Bakersfield 11-8 in water polo action Sunday afternoon.

Goals from Nicola Barrett and Ruby Versfeld put CSUB up 2-1 late in the first period. The Gauchos scored the next two before Ashley Paz tied the match on a power play goal at the 4:44 mark of the second. UCSB scored the next six goals before Kristen Jensen cut the UC Santa Barbara lead to 9-6 with three minutes remaining.

The Gauchos (13-6) scored the next time down before Jensen cut it to 10-7 with 1:54 to play. Jensen made a steal on the ensuing UCSB possession and scored for the third time to make it 10-8. Sarah Kreiser scored with five seconds remaining to make it the final 11-8.

Barrett scored twice, drew two exclusions, and made two steals. Courtney Wahlstrom made 11 saves. Brenna Thomas, Taylor Shore, Kate Pipkin, and Jenna Solberg each scored twice for UCSB.

“We played great for a stretch and then we played poorly for a stretch,” said CSUB head coach Jason Gall. “We need to be consistent for four quarters. We have been emphasizing our six-on-five offense and we were four-for-five on those opportunities today. Courtney again had a fantastic game in the cage and Jensen almost single handedly turned the game around for us in the fourth. We have a busy week ahead of us.”

The Roadrunners (8-9) host Azusa Pacific (5-6) Wednesday at 1 p.m. before traveling to No. 3 UCLA on Saturday. Next week's play concludes with a pair of matches at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational against Chapman and Wagner on Sunday.

~www.GoRunners.com~

UC Santa Barbara                             2 4 3 2   11

CSU Bakersfield                                2 1 1 4   8

UCSB Goals-Brenna Thomas 2, Taylor Shore 2, Kate Pipkin 2, Jenna Solberg 2, Sarah Kreiser 1, Sarah Snyder 1, Natalie Selin 1.

CSUB Goals-Kristen Jensen 3, Nicola Barrett 2, Ashley Paz 1, Tancy Aldridge 1, Ruby Versfeld 1.

UCSB Saves-Dawn Gasparini 7

CSUB Saves-Courtney Wahlstrom 11