Second Half Surge Propels Hawai’i Past No. 8 Fresno State

next match:

at UC Santa Barbara

3/10/2023 |

Mar 10 (Fri)

at UC Santa Barbara

History

FRESNO, Calif.—The University of Hawai’i water polo team continued its winning ways knocking off the second top-10 opponent in as many days with a 13-6 victory over No. 8 Fresno State at Bulldog Fest on a cool 46-degree Sunday morning at the Fresno State Aquatic Center.

Freshman Bia Mantellato Dias paved the way for the Rainbow Wahine (5-0) as she netted four goals on the day, giving her five consecutive multi-goal matches to begin her career. The hosting Bulldogs (0-3) dropped all three matches of the two-day event, as they took three consecutive opponents who are ranked in the top 10 of collegiate water polo, including Michigan, UC Irvine, and UH.

Early on, the two squads played tug of war in a defensive struggle leading to a slight lead at the halfway point for the UH at 6-4 as five different ‘Bows netted goals in the first 16 minutes of action, with Mantellato finding the cage twice. The second half told a different story as UH outscored their counterpart 7-2, including two more goals by Mantellato Dias to pull away in the latter stage of the match.

Senior Libby Gault and junior Lucia Gomez de la Puente added to the offensive attack of the ‘Bows as each tallied two goals. Gault entered the weekend without a goal but found the net three times over the last two days, while Gomez De La Puente registered her first two goals of the year.

Sunday marked the first time this season UH shot under .400 from the field, finishing at .382 but held the Bulldogs to just a .231 shot percentage.

UH will stay on the road for the foreseeable future all through the month of February. Next is the Triton Invitational spanning from Feb. 3-5 at UC San Diego.

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