IRVINE, Calif. – Bolstered by a fantastic defensive effort in the second half, the Concordia University Irvine women's water polo team officially clinched the regular season title all by themselves on Friday with a home win over Cal State Monterey Bay.

Already assured of a No. 1 seed in the upcoming WWPA Conference Tournament, Concordia avoided sharing the regular season title with the Otters and Biola University. If CSUMB had pulled out the victory on Friday, it would have been a three-way tie and each school could claim the title of Co-Champs.

The Golden Eagles had other plans.

Less than 24 hours after beating Biola 12-11 in sudden death overtime, CUI showed poise down the stretch and limited the Otters to only one goal in the entire second half. The Golden Eagles actually scored the final four goals of the game to pull away with a 9-4 victory.
 
Senior Kennedy Brubaker scored the go-ahead goal in the third period at a critical point in the game. Ultimately, sophomore Anna Tyukasz led everyone in scoring by converting three times for goals and also handing out two assists while freshman Amber Lewis added two goals and a pair of assists.

Sierrah Ferguson along with sprinters Hannah Edwards and Mia Hueston all found the back of the net once as well.

Junior Jaden Soto racked up double digit saves for the second straight day as Concordia's goalie. After collecting a dozen saves in the overtime win over Biola, Soto registered 10 more stops against the Otters.

"Excited of course of winning the regular season championship, however way more stoked and proud of how hard we have worked, day after day, and getting through a lot of adversity this year together," said CUI head coach Casey Greenawalt. "It has been a building project for the last four years. We have seen growth every month!"
 
"I'm also extremely proud that we can show up even when things seemed to line up against us, and being beat up and missing teammates or teammates with injuries not at a 100% and we not only show up but we battle for each other," pointed out Greenawalt. "These two games show us we are ready for a great weekend of games next week!"
 
Speaking of what lies ahead, Concordia will play an exhibition game at Woollett against UC Merced to open up the WWPA Conference Tournament. Concordia is hosting the three-day tourney next weekend with the first games beginning on Friday, April 10.

CLICK HERE for the WWPA Tournament Central webpage

CUI gets the first round bye and will then play in the semifinal on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT against either the No. 2 seed from the East (Gannon) or the No. 3 seed from the West (Cal State Monterey Bay).

CLICK HERE for the full CUI women's water polo schedule