No. 3 UCLA Falls to No. 6 California, 10-9

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LOS ANGELES -- No. 3 UCLA (23-5, 4-2 MPSF) finished in fourth place at the 2022 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship after falling to No. 6 California (16-5, 3-3 MPSF) on Sunday afternoon at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Bruins fell to 62-14 all-time against the Golden Bears.

The Bruins were led by redshirt senior Maddie Musselman and junior Hannah Palmer, who each scored a hat trick. Senior Katrina Drake contributed two scores.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Georgia Phillips got the start in the cage and went the distance, recording seven saves while allowing 10 goals.

Emma Wright led California with five goals.

PERIOD ONE
> California outscored UCLA 4-1 in the opening period.
> Emma Wright (6:48, 2:27), Ruby Swadling (4:01), Rozanne Voorvelt (3:14) put the Golden Bears up 4-0.
> Senior Katrina Drake scored a power play goal (1:01) to end the scoring in the first with the Bruins trailing 4-1.
 
PERIOD TWO
> UCLA won the second period, 3-2.
> Wright completed her hat trick with a shot from the front court (6:40) to put California up 5-1.
> Junior Hannah Palmer then scored her first on a power play (6:24) to cut it to 5-2.
> Another goal by Wright, her fourth, put the Golden Bears up 6-2 (4:15).
> Musselman scored back-to-back penalty goals (1:15 and 0:27) to pull the Bruins to within two goals and end the scoring in the second.
> UCLA trailed California, 6-4, at the break.
 
PERIOD THREE
> The Bruins won the third period, 3-2.
> Swadling scored her second on a power play (6:58) that put Cal up 7-4.
> Junior Abbi Hill scored on a powerful catch and finish at two meters (4:17) to make it 7-5.
> Swadling completed her hat trick on a power play (2:39) to push the lead to 8-5.
> Senior Katrina Drake took a nice feed from Malia Allen after some great passing by the Bruins to score from two meters (2:18) to trim the lead to 8-6.
> Palmer scored her second on a power play off a feed from Musselman (1:19) to end the scoring in the period at 8-7 Golden Bears.

PERIOD FOUR
> Both teams battled to a 2-2 draw in the fourth period to provide the 10-9 final score.
> Swadling scored her fourth of the game from the front court (6:58) to extend the lead to 9-7.
> Musselman answered with her third goal on a penalty shot (6:45) to trim it to 9-8.
> Wright scored her fifth goal of the game on a power play for Cal (6:25) to push the lead to 10-8.
> Palmer completed her hat trick with a power play goal (2:51) to trim Cal's lead to 10-9.
> The Bruins got a stop and had a shot to tie the game in the final possession, but Emma Lineback's shot was swatted away by the California defense.

UP NEXT
The Bruins await their fate for the NCAA Championship, which will be announced during the NCAA Selection Show on NCAA.com on Monday, Apr. 25, at 5:00 p.m. PT.

No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 California (MPSF Third-Place Game)

6x5 - UCLA - 4/9 - CAL - 4/5
Penalties - UCLA - 3/3 - CAL - 0/0

CAL Goals: Emma Wright 5, Ruby Swadling 4, Rozanne Voorvelt 1 
CAL Saves: Isabel Williams 14

UCLA Goals: Maddie Musselman 3, Hannah Palmer 3, Katrina Drake 2, Abbi Hill 1
UCLA Saves: Georgia Phillips 7