LA JOLLA, Calif. - For three days in a row, the Concordia University Irvine women's water polo team took on one exciting challenge after the next at the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego. In one of the matches, Concordia won in overtime! Among the various ranked teams at the tournament, Concordia was placed fourth in Bracket A alongside No. 1 USC, No. 10 Michigan, and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara.  Overall, CUI ended the weekend with a record of 1-3 overall. 

The Golden Eagles dusted off their caps and faced the first opponent of the day, top-ranked USC early Friday morning. Facing No. 1 USC was no small feat. Sofia Smith scored the first CUI goal in the tournament within the second period. Freshman Lily Ensley got one in the cage and Melinna Galbraith followed in the fourth to score Concordia's final goal of the match, making it CUI 3 - USC 20. 

On Saturday, Concordia's scheduled matches were UCSB at 8 a.m. and California Baptist at 2 p.m. Against UCSB, Galbraith captured a goal in the second to start Concordia off. No. 12 UCSB maintained a steady lead in the beginning of the match, but CUI was undeterred. Thanks to a spread-out offense, Concordia successfully added three goals in the third period and two in the fourth. A few key goals came from Tamsyn Evezard, Allyson Corbett, and Lily Ensley. Sofia Dominguez kept the momentum going with two assists and three steals. Overall, Jaden Soto made some incredible defensive plays for the Golden Eagles with around 13 saves. The match ended CUI 6 – UCSB 9. 

In the second match of the day, the Golden Eagles faced off against CBU in overtime and earned their first win of the tournament. CBU may have led off in the first period, but Abby Mammen and Tamsyn Evezard swept forward in the last two periods to close the gap. Both teams were tied with 9 goals by the end of the fourth. It was time for a showdown. Within three minutes of overtime, Evezard scored her fifth goal and Galbraith scored as well, successfulll beating CBU 11-10. 

The final match of the tournament was against San Diego State on Sunday afternoon. San Diego State managed to outscore CUI in almost every period and maintained the lead until the end. Evezard and Perreira both scored two goals for Concordia, while Sofia Smith and Tess Henke tallied one each. By the end of the match, SDSU captured the win with a final score of 11-6. 

Next up for the Golden Eagles is the match against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday, Feb. 10.

CLICK HERE for the full 2024 women's water polo schedule.