LOS ANGELES, Calif. — In the regular-season finale, Azusa Pacific water polo fell to No. 18 ranked Loyola Marymount by a final score of 14-7. The Cougars now await their seeding and first-round matchup in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Tournament that is set to begin on Friday, April 22nd. Azusa Pacific finishes the regular season with an 8-15 overall record and finished 2-5 in conference action.
Milena Guzmán Ortiz led the Cougars with three goals and an assist while Kyra Kahahawai tallied a goal and an assist in the loss as well.
How it Happened: After a turnover by Azusa Pacific on the opening possession, the Lions capitalized with the opening goal of the game with 7:21 left in the first period. Loyola Marymount extended its lead to 2-0 later in the first.
The Cougars killed off one of the three Lions' power plays before they would score on a power-play themselves under a minute later. Kahahawai was the Cougar that scored on the power-play to cut the deficit to 2-1.
But in the final 1:03 of the first period, Loyola Marymount tallied two goals to take a 4-1 lead into the second period.
Guzmán Ortiz would score the first goal of the next period on a penalty shot to cut the Lions' lead in half. Once again the Cougars' opponents fired back less than 20 seconds later with an even-strength goal to make it 5-2. Neither team managed to score for the next six minutes before Loyola Marymount scored on its final possession of the first half taking a 6-2 advantage into the break.
After a low-scoring first half, it was the Lions' offense that came out hot to start the second half. Three unanswered goals in the first four minutes of the third period would extend their lead to 9-2.
Guzmán Ortiz tallied her second goal coming with an extra attacker before Shyanne Rainey got on the scoresheet with 3:23 left in the third period making it 9-4. Once again, Loyola Marymount tallied the final two goals of the period to up its tally to five in the quarter taking an 11-4 advantage into the fourth quarter.
With the first goal of the fourth, the Lions found themselves up eight goals before Montana White scored her first goal of the game making it 12-5. Two more Lions' goals would up their advantage to 14-5, their largest lead of the game.
The Cougars would close out the game with two goals, the first was scored by Skylar Ford on the power play before Guzmán Ortiz finished off her 12th hat trick of the season with the game's final goal.
By the Numbers: Azusa Pacific scored four of its seven goals thanks to drawing 11 exclusions in the game. The Cougars also stayed out of the penalty area as well just committing five exclusions total and allowed just one goal in those five opportunities. White continues to win sprints as she won all four available in the game.
Up Next: With the 14-7 loss in the final GCC regular-season game, the Cougars will now wait for seeding and matchup in the first round of the GCC Tournament. Stay tuned to APUCougars.com for more information!
