CLAREMONT, Calif. – Azusa Pacific closed out their home schedule in dominant fashion, building a big lead in the first half and defeating Santa Clara 18-10 at Axelrood Pool in Claremont Friday evening.  After recognizing their six seniors, the Cougars got hat tricks from two of them in the victory.

How It Happened: The Cougars led wire-to-wire, scoring the first three goals of the game, starting with Alyssa Perez scoring on a backhand shot on the Cougars' first possession of the evening.  The very next trip down the pool, it was Catherine Ahumada setting up her sister Rachel for the Cougars' second strike in as many shots.  And barely a minute later, Alexandra Akritidou made it three for three off a feed from Maritza Ochoa.  Just like that, five of the six Azusa Pacific seniors were already on the scoresheet.  After a Bronco goal, Jessie Nelson restored the three-goal lead, which is where things remained until the end of the quarter.

In the second, the Cougars continued to pour on the offense, with Perez scoring twice in the opening 90 seconds of the period.  Akritidou would also collect her second and third goals of the game as the Cougars ran their lead to 8-1 before Santa Clara again found a single goal in response.  Laia Marsinach Ortega would respond with a pair of her own to run the Cougars' lead to 10-2 at halftime.

Ochoa scored the first Azusa Pacific goal of the third courtesy of an assist from the final Cougar senior, Kaelene De Bie, to make the score 11-3.  The Broncos would score consecutive goals, but Azusa Pacific rallied to maintain the eight-goal edge going into the fourth at 13-5.  Jessie Nelson and Marsinach Ortega would both finish off their hat tricks in the fourth quarter as the Cougars ran the lead to as many as nine; and goalkeeper Daniela Herrero Miralles provided the exclamation point on the game with a goal of her own just as the buzzer sounded.

How It Happened: Perez and Nelson each scored four goals in the contest, while Marsinach Ortega and Akritidou each struck three times.  Herrero Miralles made 14 saves in the contest, the first of which was the 500th save of her collegiate career.  As a team, the Cougars scored 18 goals on only 24 shots.  Kohia Rego dished out a game-high four assists, and on defense Azusa Pacific had nine steals in the game.  The six seniors (Catherine and Rachel Ahumada, Akritidou, De Bie, Ochoa, and Perez) combined for nine goals and eight assists on the day.

Up Next: Azusa Pacific (14-11, 2-2 GCC) continue Golden Coast Conference play on the road next Friday when they head out to Riverside to battle Cal Baptist.  Game time is set for 6:00 p.m.