San Jose, Calif.----- Junior Riley Agerbeek scored a single-match career high four goals including the match winner with 1:50 remaining in the fourth quarter leading #16-San Jose State University to a 9-8 win over #13-Indiana University in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) women's water polo contest.
The Spartans' victory was their first in 11 tries since a 17-7 non-conference win over Santa Clara on March 7 and first second-half comeback triumph since another 9-8 win over #6-California on January 26, 2020.
In a two-match MPSF split with the Hoosiers, San Jose State (2-12, 1-9 MPSF) switched up its starting lineup in its win playing a more deliberate tempo, had fewer individual foul problems, and kept better track of Indiana's Tina Doherty who scored five times in the Hoosiers' 12-8 win to open the weekend series. Doherty was one of three Indiana players to score twice, but was limited to only four shots compared to 10 the day before.
Agerbeek was one of two Spartans to score in the first quarter as San Jose State took a 2-1 lead into the second quarter. Starting the second half with Indiana ahead, 5-3, the teams would exchange the lead four times and there would be ties at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8. Agerbeek's next two goals before the match-winner tied the score at 5-5 and gave her team its first second-half lead, 6-5 at 0:08 in the third quarter.
"I think one of the things that really helped us in the fourth quarter was staying calm and continuing to play as a team, no freaking out that we were down," said Agerbeek, who scored on all four of her shots in the match.
The match winner came on perimeter passing between Olga Descalzi Portell, whose power-play goal at 6:06 tied the match at 6-6 and a screen set by Lily Urvari. Agerbeek found the top right corner of the cage beating Hoosiers' goalkeeper Mary Askew.
Even with Agerbeek's single-match scoring high as a Spartan, San Jose State had six players in the goal scoring column, one less than Saturday's seven against Indiana. Clarissa Wandinger, wLior Ben David and Sophie Spivack also scored in San Jose State's win.
"We were able to spread out our offense in the sense we were all attacking and doing it in sync. Last game, we had a couple of individuals that were making moves, but we just weren't all on the same page," said San Jose State women's water polo head coach Beth Harberts.
Hannah Henry was credited with nine saves and kept more than one tantalizing rebound bounce of the ball away from the scoring cage behind her.
San Jose State wraps up its regular season April 24 and 25 at Stanford in a pair of 1:00 p.m. MPSF contests. Earlier this season when the Spartans played nine consecutive matches against teams ranked in the top-four nationally, the Cardinal defeated San Jose State, 16-7, in a non-conference contest.
San Jose State University women's water polo
#16-San Jose State vs. #13-Indiana
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match
April 18, 2021
| Score by Quarters |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
| #13-Indiana (9-13, 1-9 MPSF) |
1 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
| #16-San Jose State (2-12, 1-9 MPSF) |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
9 |
| Goal scoring |
| Indiana – Katherine Hawkins, Izzy Madema, Tina Doherty, 2, each; Zoe Crouch, Kallie White, 1, each. |
| San Jose State – Riley Agerbeek, 4; Clarissa Wandinger, Lili Urvari, Lior Ben David, Olga Descalzi Portell, Sophie Spivack, 1, each. |
| Goalkeeper saves |
| Indiana – Mary Askew, 6. |
| San Jose State – Hannah Henry, 9. |
| Ejections |
| Indiana – 9. |
| San Jose State – 8. |
