The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's water polo team split a pair of games on Day 1 of the Tina Finali tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. 

In the morning,  the Blues were greeted by constant rainfall that sometimes turned torrential along with blustery, cold winds.

However, the Blues heated up right away against the Occidental College Tigers jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead in the game's opening two minutes.  The Tigers then clawed their way back into it with their own brace of goals.  The two teams then traded goals before the end of the quarter leaving the teams deadlocked at 3-3.

The Blues then scored three consecutive goals before the Tigers replied creating a 6-4 Toronto halftime lead.

The Blues then added a pair of unanswered goals in the third period to go up 8-4 entering the final frame.

The teams then traded goals twice and the Blues escaped with a 10-6 victory.

Hannah Levin, Devon Lynch, Alexandra Lee and Emma Benoit all notched a pair of goals. Co-captain Kaitlyn Palmer and Julia Decaire each added singles.

In the late afternoon, the weather had worsened with a driving rainstorm and major wind gusts affecting play for both the Blues and the top ranked team at the tournament,  the Cal Baptist Lancers.

On paper, based on the results of common opponent games, the Lancers were heavy favourites. However, despite losing another starter to injury, the remaining Blues had other ideas.

As expected, the Lancers quickly pounced to grab a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game.  But the Blues responded on the power play to cut the lead to one.  Again the Lancers went up by two goals only to see the Blues respond and pare the lead to one entering the second period.

The teams traded goals in the same manner with the Lancers extending their lead to two and the Blues cutting it back to one before the half ended.

The third quarter was a replica of the second and the Blues had created the huge surprise of trailing by only one (4-5) with one quarter to play.

Once again the Lancers went up by two only to see the Blues pull to within one.  However, the Lancers then capitalized on a couple of Blues defensive miscues to take their first three goal lead of the game.  Not done, the Blues scored once more but were stymied the rest of the way eventually falling 8-6.

"I am extremely proud of the players and their effort and fortitude in overcoming a bad situation," stated Blues head coach George Gross, Jr. "The team's performance against a top ranked opponent like Cal Baptist should provide a springboard to significant improvement next year."

As she has throughout the tour, Levin again paced the Blues attack with four goals while co-captains Palmer and Sarah Wentling rounded out the scoring.

Hana Truchla and Averi Doxtator split the goaltending responsibilities and both came up with big saves to keep the Blues close.

The Blues close out their California competition tour with a pair of games against Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific on Day 2 of the tournament.