Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
LOS ANGELES — No. 2 UCLA (3-0, 1-0 MPSF) opened up its home slate and MPSF season with an 11-5 win over No. 6 California (5-1, 0-1 MPSF) on Saturday morning at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center. The Bruins improved to 60-13 all-time against the Golden Bears with their fourth straight win over California.
Senior Lexi Liebowitz and freshman Malia Allen each scored two goals to lead the Bruins’ offense. Redshirt sophomore Georgia Phillips got the start in the cage and went the distance, tallying 12 saves while allowing five goals in her season debut.
Sophomore Ava Johnson got the Bruins on the board first with a lob shot from two meters (5:40). Sophomore Abbi Hill gave UCLA a 2-1 lead with a power play goal (3:39). Then Allen scored her first of the game on a counter attack (2:58) to push the lead to 3-1. California would score a goal to cut the Bruins’ lead to 3-2 at the end of the first period.
Junior Katrina Drake opened the scoring in the second period with a strong goal at set (7:44) to put the Bruins up 4-2. Then sophomore Hannah Palmer found open water off of a counter pass from Philips (7:14) to extend the lead to 5-2. Allen then set up junior Val Ayala who went cross-cage left for her first goal of the game (4:47) to make it 6-3 UCLA. Senior Brooke Maxson found senior Roxy Wheaton, who scored from the outside for her first score of the morning (0:50) to put the Bruins up 7-4 at the break.
Allen walked into open water and found the back of the net for her second goal of the game (5:05) to open the scoring in the third period with UCLA doubling up Cal, 8-4. It was the only goal for either team in the period.
Senior Lexi Liebowitz fired a cross-cage shot that found the back of the net (4:20) to open the scoring in the fourth period, pushing the Bruins’ lead to five goals at 9-4. Hill then found Liebowitz on the perimeter who scored her second of the game (1:29) to make it 10-5. Sophomore Brooke Doten kicked it out to freshman Anneliese Miller, who struck the back of the cage to provide the 11-5 final.
UCLA returns to action tomorrow, Mar. 14 at 11:00 a.m. PT when it hosts California again at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center.
No. 6 California at No. 2 UCLA (Home Opener – MPSF Opener – Game 3)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| No. 6 California | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| No. 2 UCLA | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
6×5 – UCLA – 1/6 – CAL – 2/11
Penalties – UCLA – 0/0 – CAL – 1/1
CAL Goals: Brigit Mulder 3, Cecily Turner 1, Reagan Whitney 1
CAL Saves: Isabel Williams 3, Cassidy Ball 2
UCLA Goals: Lexi Liebowitz 2, Malia Allen 2, Abbi Hill 1, Val Ayala 1, Hannah Palmer 1, Katrina Drake 1, Anneliese Miller 1, Ava Johnson 1, Roxy Wheaton 1
UCLA Saves: Georgia Phillips 12
Courtesy: Cal Athletics
The Bears (5-1, 0-1 MPSF) trailed 7-4 at halftime and limited the Bruins to just a single goal in the third quarter. But Cal couldn’t get its offense going itself and never threatened in the second half.
Cal was especially hurt by its performance on the power play, converting just 2-for-11 on the 6-on-5. Junior All-American center Kitty Lynn Joustra made her season-debut after missing the first five games of the season due to injury, and drew six exclusions. The Bears had five more power play opportunities than the Bruins.
The Bears were also silenced by a superb performance from UCLA goalie Georgia Phillips, who made 12 saves, including a handful on high-percentage scoring opportunities.
Senior All-American Brigit Mulder had her second hat trick of the year with three goals while junior Elli Protopapas had three steals to give her a team-leading 13 for the season.
The Bears trailed 3-2 at the end of the first quarter and were still within 6-4 after a goal by freshman Reagan Whitney with 2:17 left in the first half. But Cal didn’t score again until Mulder’s power play goal with 1:50 left in the game.
Cal will play UCLA again on Sunday at 11 a.m.