IRVINE, Calif. - Opening up the Triton Invitational against No. 1 UCLA was no small feat for the Concordia's women's water polo team.  

After a two week break from gameplay, the Golden Eagles headed down to La Jolla for the 2025 Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego. Concordia has made repeated appearances in the tournament over the years. A total of 16 teams participate in the three-day tournament, each split evenly into four brackets.

This year, the women's water polo team was placed in Bracket 'A' alongside No. 1 UCLA, No. 14 UC San Diego, and No. 7 Arizona State University.  

As the sole DII school within the bracket, Concordia had something to prove in the first match against UCLA. As expected, the Bruins didn't make it easy for the Golden Eagles.

Hannah Edwards was the first Golden Eagle to make it onto the board. The junior utility was efficient in the water for CUI and empowered others to step forward. She went on to make three of Concordia's four goals for the day. The first two were within a minute of each other and the last occurred near the end of the second period. This marks a season-high for the Cedar-City native.  

Edwards wasn't the only player on the offensive for CUI. Freshman Anna Tyukasz also snagged a goal in the third period. Their combined efforts kept the Golden Eagles afloat in the high differential game, tallying four goals to the Bruins 29.

The next two games for Concordia followed a similar theme. Arizona State showed up to the early match with fervor and solidified their lead fairly quickly. Despite the Sun Devils' relentless offense, multiple Golden Eagles were able to make a difference in the match. These key players included Hannah Edwards, Kailah Peery, and the freshmen duo, Sierrah Ferguson and Kimorah Wong.

Concordia broke their four-goal streak against San Diego State with a whopping five goals. The freshman attacker Anna Tsukasz made a brilliant comeback and collected a hat trick, marking her third multi-scoring match of the season. Sierrah Ferguson and Sofia Smith also had strong performances against the Aztecs, rallying to close the gap. By games' end, the final score was CUI 5 SDSU 16.

The Green and the Gold captured their first big win of the tournament on Sunday morning! Strong performances from Sofia Smith and Mattie Herzog allowed the Golden Eagles to sweep past the Stags. After the third period, Concordia's defense was able to shutout Claremont-Mudd-Scripps advances to seal the win. CUI claimed victory with a final score of 9-5!

NEXT UP: Concordia will face off against Toronto and Cal Lutheran on Friday, February 14. Stats will not count in the exhibition match against Toronto.

CLICK HERE to view the FULL Concordia women's water polo schedule. 

CLICK HERE to access the Triton Invitational Tournament Central.