ORANGE, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans womens' water polo team finished Day 2 at the Convergence Tournament with a split day. They rallied back to win their first game of the day against Biola in Triple Sudden Death OT, 12-11. They almost rallied back for a second win of the day but fell just short against La Salle, 8-7.
Cal State Fullerton 12, Biola 11 (TRIPLE SD OT)
Destiny Hernandez and
Taylor Mason were the stars as they led the Titans to an epic 12-11 win over Biola in nine periods of play.  After trailing by as much as five goals (10-5), the Titans rallied back over the final 10 minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime. Â
Taylor Mason had a fourth quarter hat trick in a 4-goal game effort and
Destiny Hernandez scored the game winner in the final overtime period to give the Titans at least one win for the weekend.
With Fullerton's Number One goalkeeper,
Annabelle Sherman unavailable for the Titans, they once again had a lot of ground to catch up on as Biola jumped to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter ended.
At halftime, the Eagles led 6-3 over the Titans.  The Eagles stretched the lead to five goals at 10-5 with 1:40 left in the third quarter
Emme Doube-MacLeod got one back for the Titans to make it 10-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Destiny Hernandez and
Taylor Mason scored to open the fourth quarter to make it a 10-8 game. Â However, the Eagles got one goal back with 3:07 to stretch the lead back to 11-8. Â
Hannah Wilson scored to make it 11-9 and
Taylor Mason scored on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 11-11.
In overtime, the Titans had a couple opportunities after forcing a couple power plays but couldn't find the back of the net. Â In the second sudden death overtime, the Titans had a 5-meter penalty shot saved. Â Finally, in the nith period of play, Mia Solarzano found a streaking
Destiny Hernandez who dented the twine to hand the win over to the Titans.
After allowing 10 goals in the first three quarters of play, the Titans defense held strong and allowed just one goal in the final 22 minutes of play. Â
Sienna Bertsch picked up the win and made 11 saves in the cage for the Titans.
Cal State Fullerton 7, La Salle 8
After playing over 45 minutes in the first game of the day, the Titans had one more game to finish off the Convergence Tournament against La Salle who was playing their first game of the day.Â
They got to a quick start against La Salle as
Jade Lonzo scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Titans an early 2-0 lead. Â The fortunes quickly faded as La Salle scored the next four and took a 4-2 lead over the Titans. Â
Elise Bliss got one back for the Titans in the second quarter as the Explorers led 4-3 at halftime.
The Explorers scored the first two goals of the third quarter to take a 6-3 lead before
Eden Tal and
Madelyn Halva scored before the period ended to make it 6-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Titans tied the game up twice in the fourth quarter as
Emme Doube-MacLeod made it a 6-6 game and
Destiny Hernandez made it a 7-7 game. Â However, the Explorers converted on a 5-meter penalty with 1:08 left and were able to see out the win over the Titans.
The Titans will begin Best West play with two home games next week on Wednesday against UC Irvine and Saturday against Long Beach State. Â Both games will be played at Fullerton College as the Titans Aquatic Center remains unusable for the time being.
