SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific women's water polo split its doubleheader at the UCSB Tournament for the second straight day, losing to Indiana in the morning 11-6 before rebounding with a 10-9 win over Brown to close out the tournament. The Cougars are 2-2 overall through their first four games with their two wins coming against Ottawa and Brown to start the season.

Azusa Pacific was led by last season's DII Player of the Year, Milena Guzmán Ortiz who scored seven of the 16 goals for the Cougars today and had a team-high four in the win over Brown. Goalkeeper Kate Green-Jones set the Azusa Pacific school record for the most saves in a single-game with 20 in the Cougars 11-6 loss to Indiana.

"I think this weekend was a good test for us," head coach Julie Snodgrass said. "We had some areas that we grew as a team and some areas exposed to still grow. Overall I'm glad to see where we build from here."

How it Happened (Game 1 vs. Indiana):
In the first three minutes of the game, the Cougars allowed two goals to the Hoosiers to give them a 2-0 lead. But, Azusa Pacific fought back with its first goal scored by freshman Montana White to get back within one over halfway through the period. Indiana would tally three unanswered however to stretch their advantage to 5-1 before Kyra Kahahawai scored with just 20 seconds remaining to close out the first period.

The Cougars created some momentum as Guzmán Ortiz scored from a five-meter penalty to put her team down 5-3, but the Hoosiers responded with two goals to get their lead back to four. Lauren Hoyle scored to make it 7-4 just over the halfway mark in the second, before Guzmán Ortiz tallied her second just before the break to make it 8-5 at halftime.

Azusa Pacific couldn't create any momentum after the break as the Hoosiers scored twice more in the third period to take a 10-5 lead into the fourth. Guzmán Ortiz's third goal of the game was the final score for the Cougars in the 11-6 loss. Green-Jones tallied 20 saves which was her collegiate career-high and it broke Azusa Pacific's single-game save record which was set back in 2012.

How it Happened (Game 2 vs. Brown):

In game two of the doubleheader, the Cougars never trailed at any point in the match. White got Azusa Pacific on the board first with a goal less than two minutes into the game, she's now scored in each of the first four matches so far this season. Brown would tie the game up on a power play goal less than a minute later before Kahahawai gave the Cougars back the lead just half a minute later. With a 2-1 lead, the Cougars allowed another powerplay goal to tie it up but responded with a Shyanne Rainey goal with 2:43 remaining in the first period. 

Back-and-forth the teams would go, Brown once again tying it in the second but Guzmán Ortiz's five-meter penalty goal gave her team a 4-3 lead. The turning point in this one came later on in the period, tied at 4-apiece the Cougars tallied three goals in just two minutes. Kahahawai scored her second of the game to put her team up 5-4 before Guzmán Ortiz scored back-to-back goals to give Azusa Pacific a 7-4 lead at halftime.

Maritza Ochoa would get on the scoresheet to open the third period to give her team their largest lead of the game, 8-4. Brown created some momentum in the third with a pair of goals to cut the deficit in half, but the Cougars answered right back with two of their own to hold a 10-6 advantage going into the final period. Lauren Hoyle tallied her second goal of the season before Guzmán Ortiz scored her fourth of the game.

Brown would score the game's final three goals of the game, but Azusa Pacific would hold on down the stretch securing its second win of the season by a score of 10-9.

Up Next: Azusa Pacific will travel to Irvine, Calif. to take on UC Irvine on Saturday, February 5th. The match is set to begin at 12:00 p.m.