ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's water polo suffered its first SCIAC defeat with a 14-10 loss to visiting La Verne. The Panthers (5-15, 2-1 SCIAC) fell in an early hole and couldn't recover as the Leopards came out on top of the matchup of undefeated SCIAC teams.
La Verne scored the first two goals of the contest and four pf the first five to take the early 4-1 lead. Guarina Garcia scored two of the goals and assisted on another to help fuel the Leopard effort. Senior Emiko Mizusawa scored the Panthers early goal in the middle of La Verne's run and junior Elaine Peterson scored just before the end of the quarter to make it 4-2.
Despite another goal from Mizusawa, the Leopard pulled further away with a 3-2 advantage in the second quarter to make it 7-4 at halftime. The Panthers continued to fight, led by two of senior Grace Schade's three goals in the second half but the Leopards had an answer for every Chapman run.
The Panthers trailed by as much as five but sliced the lead down to three in the third quarter and again in the fourth. La Verne responded each time to get the victory.
Six different Panthers scored in the match with Schade netting the hat trick while Mizusawa and Peterson each scored twice. Junior Kerry Goodspeed made 11 saves in goal with a couple of steals.
The Panthers are back at home on Wednesday to take on Occidental at 4 p.m.
by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
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