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Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Chapman
Rams match school record with 18 goals
3/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
March 19, 2008
ORANGE, Calif. - Freshman goalie Kayley Provow had several big saves, including a penalty shot, and Colorado State's water polo team matched its single-game school scoring record in an 18-6 triumph over Chapman at the Orange High School pool Wednesday night.
The Rams (6-19) snapped an eight-game losing streak and improved to 6-8 in the Western Water Polo Association with the conference victory. They also picked up their first win in a head-to-head road game, and secured some momentum headed into a key weekend.
The Rams had scored 18 goals in a game twice previously, an 18-0 shutout over Penn State Behrend on March 12, 2005, and an 18-5 victory over Macalester on March 11, 2006.
Provow, a first-year player out of Naperville, Ill., denied Chapman's penalty free throw, usually an automatic goal in the game of water polo.
"That's a big plus when a goalie can do that," said Head Coach John Mattos. "It's a huge boost to your team's mentality. It was really hard to get anything by her tonight."
The Rams defeated Chapman for the fifth straight time in their conference series, a streak that began in 2006 and includes a triumph earlier this month, 15-4, March 7 at the Loyola Marymount tournament. Several players had hat tricks in the contest, including sophomore center Sarah Ostling.
CSU's performance was impressive, because the Rams were physically challenged in the days and hours leading up to the game. In addition to two days of hard training after their loss Sunday to Princeton, the Rams began Wednesday with a weight workout and a two-and-a-half-hour practice. Then they walked ¾ of a mile to and from the pool.
"The kids are really responding well," Mattos said. "I'm pleased with the way they're picking things up. With today's game, with them being as tired as they are, it was tough.
"But we wanted them to be in a situation where they were challenged. We're really kicking the heck out of them, and they've responded. Hopefully, it's getting us ready for San Bernardino."
CSU now makes that 45-minute drive to San Bernardino, where the Rams hope to defeat another conference foe, a team they haven't toppled since the program's first season. In that 2005 contest, at the UC Davis tourney, CSU won by a goal in overtime. The first sprint Friday is set for 3 p.m. PDT.
San Bernardino's venue will be challenging, since it is narrower than a normal NCAA water polo pool, similar to the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins.
Then on Saturday, CSU travels to Redlands, Calif., where it wraps up its spring-break road trip with a pair of non-conference games, against Redlands at 9 a.m. PDT and Claremont at 1:30 p.m. PDT.
