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Colorado State University Athletics
CSU water polo to compete in Slugfest
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 28, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Rams will travel to this weekend to Santa Cruz, Calif., for the annual UCSC Slugfest tournament. Eight teams, including several conference foes, will be competing for two days. The team with the best record will determine the tournament winner. Each team will play four games, two Saturday and two Sunday. The full schedule:
Saturday (all times Pacific):
8 a.m. CS-East Bay vs. Colorado State
9:10 a.m. CS-Monterey Bay vs. CS-San Bernardino
10:20 a.m. UC Santa Cruz vs. Whittier College
11:30 a.m. Santa Clara vs. Sonoma State
1:20 p.m. Colorado State vs. CS-Monterey Bay
2:30 p.m. Whittier College vs. CS-East Bay
3:40 p.m. UC Santa Cruz vs. Sonoma State
4:50 p.m. CS-San Bernadino vs. Santa Clara
Sunday (all times Pacific):
7 a.m. Whittier College vs. Santa Clara
8:10 a.m. UC Santa Cruz vs. CS-San Bernardino 9:20 a.m. Sonoma State vs. Colorado State
10:30 a.m. CS-Monterey Bay vs. Whittier College
12:50 p.m. Sonoma State vs. CS-San Bernardino
2 p.m. Santa Clara vs. Colorado State
3:10 p.m. UC Santa Cruz vs. Monterey Bay
RAMS STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE Colorado State has one of the toughest schedules around the Western Water Polo Association and this weekend the Rams face CS-East Bay, Sonoma State, CS-Monterey Bay and Santa Clara, all of which are Rams conference opponents. The Rams are 2-8 overall and 2-1 in the conference. This weekend they look to capitalize on an opportunity to pick up more conference wins. CS-East Bay is ranked third in Division III, with a 4-4 overall record. Last year the Pioneers lost 10 seniors and this appears to be a year for re-building. Head coach Lisa Derossi-Cooper is in her sixth season and has turned the water polo program around. Sonoma State has a 4-4 overall record. Samantha Burchard is the leading scorer this season with nine goals for the Seawolves. Head coach Coralie Simmons is in her first season, after previously serving as an assistant at UCLA and Hawaii. Simmons brings a wealth of national and international experience to Sonoma State's water polo program. CS-Monterey Bay has a 5-3 overall record. Chelsea Laning, a senior, leads the Otters with 16 goals this season. Cookie Cuzynski leads the team with eight steals. Santa Clara has a 5-4 overall record. Head coach Keith Wilbur is in his fourth season for the Broncos. Claire Linney and Christie Miller are the team leaders with 14 goals each this season. Randahl Capurro has 97 block/saves in the goal this season.
HILTON INVITATIONAL RECAP Two weekends ago the Rams hosted the first annual Hilton Invitational tournament, a round-robin competition at EPIC in Fort Collins against Marist, Bucknell and UC Santa Cruz. The Rams faced tough defenses, however, and finished third with a 2-3 record. Each of the Rams' two victories came against conference foe UCSC, one on each day of the two-day tourney. In the opening day's early morning opener, Feb. 9, the Rams picked up their first win of the season, a triumph over the Banana Slugs. "We are moving the ball and controlling the ball much better," Head Coach John Mattos said. "A 2-3 record for this weekend is excellent." Against UCSC, Ali Pavlik played well and added another hat trick, her third of the season. Annie Quinn also had a hat trick, while Emily Chambers and Sarah Ostling scored twice, and Shannon Kohl and Emily McCullough also scored. Sophomore goalie Krystyna McCright had a single-game season high of 15 saves vs. UC Santa Cruz to tie her career high. The Rams were down 5-3 in the second period to the Banana Slugs, but Pavlik scored two of the next three goals and the Rams never looked back. Pavlik had four goals total. Pavlik leads the team with 19 goals and 50 shot attemps on goal this season. On the second day of the tournament, the Rams beat UC Santa Cruz, 13-11. CSU now holds a 2-1 conference record. Freshman Andrea Victoria came out aggressively in that victory. She had her first career hat trick, scoring four goals. Victoria had multiple steals and moved the ball well. Alexandra Eason made her first career goal. Sarah Ostling and Annie Quinn also had two goals each. Sophomore goalie Krystyna McCright topped her single-game career high with 16 saves. She was strong and aggressive in the goal. She also had two steals. McCright has 83 saves for the season. In between, the Rams lost a pair of hard-fought contests to eventual runner-up Marist, and gave a strong effort in a losing cause against eventual tournament champion Bucknell.
