BERKELEY, Calif. – UCLA freshman Panni Szegedi scored three goals in the final 8:43 for her second straight hat trick and the unbeaten, top-ranked Bruins pulled away for a 7-4 victory over third-seeded series, California Golden. Bears, winning their eighth NCAA women's water polo championship Sunday night at the Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Szegedi and coach Adam Wright helped the Bruins (26-0) to their first title since a record five-straight streak from 2005-09.
Cal (19-7) took a 1-0 lead at the 2:36 mark of the first quarter on senior Maryn Dempsey's 48th goal of the season. UCLA tied it when Anneliese Miller scored with 15 seconds left in the period.
UCLA jumped out in front with 4:59 left in the second quarter on a goal from Natasha Kieckhafer. The Golden Bears responded with 3:31 left on a goal from Rozanne Voorvelt to tie the score at 2-2 at halftime.
Genoa Rossi scored 26 seconds into the third quarter to put the Bruins up 3-2. Maddie DeMattia scored on the power play after a Rossi putout to tie Cal at 2:56. But Szegedi found the net with 43 seconds left and UCLA took a 4-3 lead into the fourth period and never trailed again.
The Bruins took a two-goal lead with 5:07 left when Szegedi scored the team's first goal on his sixth chance. Taylor Smith followed with a second straight goal to make the score 6-3 with 2:04 left.
DeMattia scored his second goal of the game with 32 seconds left to bring Cal within two, but Szegedi got his hat trick with an empty-net goal 11 seconds later to secure the victory.
Szegedi's three-goal effort gives her 39 on the season, tying her with sophomore Anna Pearson for the team lead.
Cal managed to connect on just 4 of 35 shots against Bruins goalie Lauren Steele. Bears goalie Isabel Williams saw UCLA score on 7 of 34 attempts.
UCLA beat two-time defending champion and fourth seed Stanford 10-8 in the semifinals behind three goals from Szegedi. Cal advanced with a 9-6 victory over second-seeded Hawaii. Dempsey had a hat trick to lead the Bears.
UCLA beat Stanford for the championship in 2001, the sport's first season. The Bruins lost in the title game to Stanford the following season before beating the Cardinal for the 2003 championship. UCLA lost to Stanford in the title game in 2014, 2015 and 2017 and lost to the USC Trojans in 2021 Stanford won nine championships and USC claimed six. The Cardinal, Trojans and Bruins account for the 23 titles.
Cal's Coralie Simmons became the first head coach to lead her team to the championship game. The Golden Bears' only other trip to the finals was in 2011, losing to Stanford. The event was not played in 2020 due to the pandemic.
