The 2022 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship started Thursday with the first round at Hawai'i's Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center. 

In the first game of the day, fifth-seeded UC San Diego earned a 12-11 overtime win over fourth-seeded UC Davis. The Tritons got the win in exciting fashion with a goal from Annika Arroyo with less than two seconds remaining in overtime. The Tritons will advance to the semifinals to face top-seeded and host Hawai'i on Friday, April 22 at 11 a.m. HT/2 p.m. PT. The Rainbow Wahine earned a bye in the first round by virtue of being the top seed. 

The middle game saw second-seeded UC Irvine use a big second half to defeat seventh-seeded CSUN to come away with a 13-9 victory. With the score knotted at 6-6 in the third quarter, the Anteaters went on a 5-0 run to put the game out of reach with goals from Elena Flynn (1), Jessica Lynch (3) and Kili Skibby (1). 

In the final game of the day, third-seeded Long Beach State pulled away from sixth-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the fourth quarter for an 11-10 triumph. The Gauchos led 8-7 at the end of the third quarter, but the Beach took the final period 4-3 with a strong defensive effort put forth by goalkeeper Chelsea Oliver. The Anteaters and the Gauchos will face off on Friday, April 22 at 1 p.m. HT/4 p.m. PT. 
 

No. 5 Seed UC San Diego 12, No. 4 Seed UC Davis 11 (OT)

Box Score | UC San Diego Postgame Interview | UC Davis Postgame Interview | Recap courtesy of ucsdtritons.com
HONOLULU, Hawaii --  In the first game of the Big West Conference tournament the No. 12 UC San Diego women's water polo team (20-10, 3-3 BWC) hung on to take down 11th-ranked UC Davis (16-12, 3-3 BWC) in overtime by a final score of 12-11 thanks to a game-winning power-play goal from Annika Arroyo. This is the first Big West Conference tournament win for the UC San Diego women's water polo team.

Early on, the Tritons struggled to contain the Aggies offensively. UC Davis scored three consecutive goals to begin the match, but with two seconds remaining in the first period, Taylor Onstott netted a power play goal for UC San Diego to cut the deficit to 3-1 heading into the start of the second period.
 
The Tritons would continue to find success in the second period, with Holly Maine, Annika Arroyo, and Courtney Okumura each scoring to give UC San Diego four goals in the period, tying the score at 5-5 heading into half time.
 
Okumura kept the pressure up for the Tritons to begin the second half, netting her second goal of the match to give UC San Diego its first lead of the game with a lob shot to make it 6-5. Alyssa Lengtat would immediately tie the score for UC Davis though, and the two teams continued to trade goals throughout the third period, with a key field block from Lucia Doak helping the Tritons maintain momentum. After Okumura netted her fourth goal of the match, Noelle Wijnbelt kept the match tied at 8-8 heading into the final regulation period.
 
In the fourth period, Onstott and Arroyo each scored once again for the Tritons, but Wjinbelt and Allyson Clague answered back with goals of their own. With 1:37 remaining in regulation, Doak notched her first goal of the game for UC San Diego with a bar-in score, but a redirected shot from Emily Aikema of UC Davis with 25 seconds remaining tied the game once more at 11-11. Ciara Franke sent in a lob shot from far outside to try and give the Tritons a win in regulation, but a save from Nellie McAdams sent the match into overtime.
 
The first period of overtime saw no goals for either side, with two saves from Bennett Bugelli and a field block from Franke helping UC San Diego maintain a blank scorecard. In the second overtime period, neither team was able to convert until the final seconds of the match. After taking a time out with 28 seconds remaining in the period, the Tritons substituted Arroyo in at goalie to create a 7-on-6 advantage to close out overtime, as they have done to end periods throughout the season. After Julia Hartmann of UC Davis was whistled for an exclusion with six seconds remaining, Arroyo found the back of the net with one second remaining to give UC San Diego the win.
 

No. 2 Seed UC Irvine 13, No. 7 Seed CSUN 9

Box Score | UC Irvine Postgame Interview | CSUN Postgame Interview | Recap courtesy of ucirvinesports.com
HONOLULU, Hawaii --  With the game even at 6-6, No. 2 seed UC Irvine went on a 5-0 run en route to a 13-9 win over No. 7 seed CSUN in the first round of the 2022 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship hosted by Hawai'i at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Center. 

UC Irvine jumped out to a large first-period lead behind two of Elena Flynn's four goals only to see the lead shrink to one by halftime and tied early in the third period. Flynn rebroke the tie and got three third-period goals from Jessica Lynch to finally separate the Anteaters from the CSUN Matadors for good.

Elena Flynn and Jessica Lynch each scored four times to lead all scorers on the match. Lynch added two assists to lead all players with six points. Tara Prentice scored twice giving her 70 for the season making her the first Anteater to register multiple seasons with 70 or more goals.

Piper Smith led all players with two steals and Faith Tedesco made one save on the afternoon and added a steal.
 
The game was tied up 29 seconds into the second half at 6-6 on a CSUN goal. The Anteaters pulled away with five straight goals to end the third period starting with Flynn's third goal at 6:47. Jessica Lynch scored the next three goals at 6:07, 4:39, and 1:34 in the period. Kili Skibby ended the five-goal run with 29 seconds left in the third.
 
The Matadors closed things again to a three-goal game with tallies at 6:54 and 5:33 left in the match. UC Irvine took the lead back to five goals with Tara Prentice's second at 4:34 and Flynn netting her fourth with 3:47 remaining.
 
UC Irvine won its 20th match of the season. It is the first time since 2017 and eighth time in program history that has happened. The 'Eaters won three of four sprints including two for Piper Smith now with 81 wins in her career. UCI's 13 goals keeps up their season average of 12.1 goals per game, the highest season average in program history.
 

No. 3 Seed Long Beach State 11, No. 6 Seed UC Santa Barbara 10

Box Score | Long Beach State Postgame Interview | UC Santa Barbara Postgame Interview | Recap courtesy of longbeachstate.com
Honolulu, Hawaii -- In the final game of the day, third-seeded Long Beach State pulled away from sixth-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the fourth quarter for an 11-10 triumph. The Gauchos led 9-8 at the end of the third quarter, but the Beach took the final period 4-2. Long Beach State goalkeeper Chelsea Oliver came up clutch with two key defensive stops in the final minute of play. 

Marilia Mimides and Anne de Kleer led the Beach with four and three goals, respectively. Gabriella Matafora-Adams had three assists and Oliver amassed 11 saves. UC Santa Barbara's Caitlyn Snyder and Drew Halvorson put away two goals each.

After UCSB took a quick 1-0 lead, Marilia Mimides scored her first of four goals to tie the game with six minutes left in the first period.
 
Junior Orsi Hertzka and sophomore Amanda Price scored back-to-back goals to give the Beach a 3-1 at the end of the first period. Early in the second period UCSB 's Drew Halvorson scored to cut the lead to 3-2, but Rachael Kowalchick scored to push the lead back to 4-2.
 
Anne De Kleer scored her first of three goals to give the Beach a 5-2 powerplay lead with 1:14 left in the second. UCSB went on a 2-0 run in the final 40 seconds of the first half to make it a 5-4 game at halftime. Aidan Flynn tied the game in the third period when she scored on a power play.
 
LBSU found itself down 6-5 midway through the third when Annie Kuester converted on a penalty shot. The Gauchos took an 8-7 lead after the third period. Mimides tied the game 8-8 with 7:37 remaining and Leigh Lyter answered right back to give UCSB a 9-8 lead.
 
The Beach then went on a 3-0 run to mount the comeback after goals by Anne De Kleer, Lena Kotanchyan and Mimides. After a penalty shot, UCSB cut the lead to 11-10, but the Beach held on for the victory.