The UCSB women’s water polo team took fourth place in this weekend’s UC San Diego Triton Invitational by sweeping Hartwick and UC Davis in Saturday’s group competition before falling to San Diego State and UC Irvine on Sunday.

In a tale of two days, the #16 Gauchos (4-2) started Saturday’s success by taking down #10 Hartwick 16-15 in an overtime shootout. Sophomore center Lizzie Rouleau, sophomore utility Christie Clark and junior defender Amanda Tipton carried the offense for the Gauchos in a back and forth struggle throughout regulation, as each Gaucho recorded a hat trick in the match. The two squads headed into overtime deadlocked at 14 before the Gauchos got clutch goals from Clark and freshman utility Claire Buchanan in the two overtime periods to give UCSB the one-goal win. Senior goalie Jenny Gonzales posted six saves in the match and held Hartwick to one goal in overtime.

The Gauchos took the impressive win into Saturday afternoon’s even tougher contest against #8 UC Davis (3-1). UCSB jumped out to a 2-1 margin after the first quarter and built up its lead to 6-3 after three quarters. Davis fought back late to bring the score closer, but it wasn’t enough as UCSB came out on top 8-6. Junior utility Gillian Morgan led all Gauchos with four goals and Gonzales came up with six more saves.

The Gauchos were unable to carry the momentum from their impressive wins into Sunday as they lost to #6 San Diego State (5-0) 8-6, setting up a third-place game against #9 UC Irvine (3-1). The Gauchos were outmatched in this one, losing 10-5.

UCSB will be back in action next Saturday at noon in Long Beach to start MPSF play against Long Beach State.