ISLE FILE
UH fourth in NCAA water polo
Advertiser Staff
The University of Hawai'i finished its first appearance in the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships in fourth place yesterday at Ann Arbor, Mich.
A day after suffering a 7-6 loss to top-ranked UCLA, the No. 4 Rainbow Wahine were beaten by No. 2 USC, 11-6, in the third-place game.
"USC has more depth than us, and mentally we might not have been as sharp after yesterday's loss to UCLA," said UH coach Michel Roy. "I'm very proud of where we are as a program. This is only the beginning."
The end didn't come yesterday until USC scored the last three goals after UH had closed to 8-6 in the fourth quarter.
"It was a tense and tough game," senior driver Darcy Scott-Hosaka said. "We were tired, but it was easy to pump ourselves up physically for our last game."
Anna Sieprath scored three goals and Amy Logan two for Hawai'i, which finished 21-11.
Lauren Wenger scored two goals for the Trojans (25-5).
UCLA completed a 33-0 season with a 3-2 win over No. 3 Stanford in the championship game.
Also yesterday, UH freshman utility Iefke Van Belkum was named to the tournament's seven-player first team. Freshman 2-meter Monika Kruszona and sophomore goalie Meike De Nooy were selected to the second team.
SOFTBALL
UH misses NCAAs
The "bubble" burst yesterday for the University of Hawai'i softball team, which was left off the 64-team field of the NCAA Softball Tournament.
The Rainbow Wahine made a late run to finish 31-21 and — at No. 67 on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association power index — on the "bubble" for a berth.
"We finished as strong as we could have and I'm proud of how well the team did down the stretch to put us in the position of having a chance at even getting selected," said UH coach Bob Coolen, whose team won 11 of its final 12 games.
Michigan (55-4) was awarded the No. 1 seed in a field that also includes Western Athletic Conference champion Fresno State (41-10).
SURFING
Patacchia advances
Fred Patacchia Jr. of Hale'iwa advanced to the third round of the Billabong Pro Tahiti surfing contest yesterday.
The second round of the prestigious contest was completed in clean 5- to 6-foot waves at Teahupoo, Tahiti.
Patacchia had two long barrel rides that resulted in scores of 9.2 and 9.17 in his second-round victory over California's Shane Beschen.
Former world champion Sunny Garcia of Wai'anae was eliminated in the second round by Australian Lee Winkler. Wildcard entry Liam McNamara of O'ahu's North Shore was also eliminated.
Hawai'i surfers Andy Irons, Bruce Irons and Kalani Robb had byes in yesterday's second round.
