The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's water polo team played the penultimate game of their 2020 California tour facing off against the No. 25 California Baptist Lancers at Sage Hill School in Irvine.
 
The Blues generated three excellent scoring chances in the early going but could not get the shots to go.  The Lancers then opened the scoring with two minutes to go in the first quarter on a deflected shot and stretched the lead to 2-0 just before the end of the quarter.
 
Toronto got on the board on its second attack of the second period courtesy of a powerful blast from senior co-captain Kassie Fraser (Vancouver).  Cal Baptist struck back to restore its two-goal advantage but junior assistant captain Caitlyn Tiedje (Okotoks, Alberta) scored from the center forward position to get the Blues back to within one before the half ended.
 
A missed defensive assignment in the Toronto end left a Lancers player alone in front of the net and she made no mistake in putting her team up 4-2.  Cal Baptist then opened up a three-goal lead with a powerplay goal mid-way through the third quarter. Sophomore Allie Vas got that one back sniping a bar-down goal on the powerplay leaving the Blues down 5-3 heading into the final frame.
 
A shot to the top corner from freshman Kaitlyn Palmer (Ottawa) got the Blues to within one.  Neither team could score for the next half quarter until the Lancers pulled ahead 6-4 on an outside shot goal.
 
With just under two minutes remaining, head coach George Gross, Jr. called a time out after a defensive stand by Toronto and Tiedje then scored on a set play the team had practiced at the morning swim.
 
With the score 6-5 in favour of the Lancers, the Blues defence turned back the next two Cal Baptist attacks and got the ball back with 35 seconds to go.  Gross, Jr. used the team's final timeout to set up another play but an errant pass following a mad scramble in front of the Lancers net caused the clock to run out.
 
The loss evened Toronto's tour record at 3-3.
 
The Blues play their final game Friday at 1:30pm at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine versus Concordia University (Irvine).