Making their annual competition tour of southern California, the University of Toronto women's water polo team had a rough start going 1-5 over the first six games in the golden state.
 
BLUES 6 Cal State University Fullerton 8
 
The Blues opened the tour with a game at Cal State Fullerton against the host Titans. The teams began the game tentatively and wound up with a goalless first quarter.

U of T struck first in the second quarter on a goal by senior co-captain center forward Julia DeCaire. The Titans responded with a pair of goals to take their first lead of the game. Then, first-year power forward Ava Stimson scored twice in the last 30 seconds of the period, giving the Blues a 3-2 halftime lead.
 
The Titans roared out of the gate with four straight goals to start the third quarter, before first-year center forward Lillian Wheatley got one back for the Blues. However, some sloppy defence allowed Fullerton to restore its three goal lead with 10 seconds remaining in the period. 

Toronto fought back with two goals in the first minute of the fourth to pull within one on goals by fourth-year Vega Jones and DeCaire with her second. It wasn't enough as the Titans added an insurance marker with a minute to play to win 8-6.
 
"It was obvious that the half day of travel and time zone change led to a sluggish performance," stated Varsity Blues women's water polo head coach George Gross Jr.  "When you miss two of three penalty shots, you are not only losing goals scored but momentum as well."
 
BLUES 7 Cal State University Northridge 13
 
The next day, the Blues were involved in a three-way round robin with Cal State Northridge (CSUN) and host Cal Lutheran.
 
The Blues opened the day against the CSUN Matadors, a team U of T have never beaten.  Things looked much the same in the early going as CSUN jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening quarter. However, the Blues stormed back with three unanswered goals to edge out in front 3-2 heading into the second period. 

Toronto made it five in a row and looked to be on the way to a shutout quarter, but some slip-ups on defence allowed the Matadors to put back a rebound at the horn reducing the Blues advantage to two goals at the half.
 
The third quarter was the Blues undoing as the Matadors ran off six unanswered goals to go up 9-5 heading into the final frame. 

Though the Blues notched a pair in the final frame, the defence gave up four more, sending U of T to a 13-7 defeat.
 
"The team played a mostly great first half," mused Gross Jr. "We had never led CSUN at the half. But you give up an inexcusable goal at the horn and instead of being pumped up for the second half, the snowball started rolling down the mountain and never stopped. At this level, a team cannot afford to continue sagging and hope to win. We have to learn from this lost opportunity."
 
BLUES 5 Cal Lutheran University 8
 
Three hours after matching up with CSUN, the Blues were back in the pool to face the host Cal Lutheran Regals. The first quarter was a see-saw battle with the teams trading goals and finishing deadlocked at 3-3. 

U of T lost its offence in the second period scoring only once, while the Regals popped in three goals and took a 6-4 lead at the half.
 
The offence went from bad to worse in the third quarter, getting shut out as Cal Lutheran scored the only two goals to extend its advantage to 8-4 heading into the final frame. 

U of T then scored the only goal in the fourth quarter to settle on the final score of 8-5.
 
BLUES 9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College 12
 
The third day of the tour was a second doubleheader in as many days for the Blues. The first match saw U of T go up against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas (CMS).  
 
The two teams went toe-to-toe for three quarters and found themselves even at 9-9 heading into the fourth quarter. 

In the two previous meetings between the teams, the games had gone to sudden death overtime with each team winning once. It looked like the same thing would happen for a third straight time. However, the Blues faltered and were shut out leading to a 12-9 loss.
 
"It's hard to criticize the effort in this game considering it was our fourth game in less than 48 hours," said Gross Jr. "Fourth quarter fatigue was not surprising."
 
BLUES 9 Redlands University 3
 
Two hours after the loss to CMS, the Blues were back in the water for their fifth game in less than 48 hours to face the host for the day, the Redlands University Bulldogs. 

Ineffectual shooting by the Blues accounted for the team trailing 2-1 midway through the second quarter. Then a three goal outburst gave the Blues a 4-2 halftime lead.
 
The teams traded goals to start the third quarter, but the Blues defence shut the door for the rest of the game and the offence gradually added to its total before ending up 9-3 winners.
 
"With both teams having already played once against a good CMS squad, a game fraught with poor execution was not entirely surprising, " stated Gross Jr. "That said, it was important for our players to get that first victory, especially knowing the next two games will be against Top 10 ranked schools."
 
BLUES 3 Loyola Marymount University 16
 
With Loyola Marymount Lions (LMU) enjoying its best season in many years and sitting at No. 8 in the national rankings, the Blues were facing a huge mountain to climb in their final contest of the first half of their California tour.
 
LMU got on the board right after winning the opening swim off - a harbinger of things to come. But the Blues answered to briefly tie the game 1-1.  After the Lions retook the lead, the Blues had a chance to equalize on the power play but misfired and LMU counterattacked to go up by two. By the end of the first quarter, the Lions held a 5-1 advantage.
 
The outcome was never in doubt as the Lions continued to expose the Blues defence while smothering the Blues attacks.
 
"Though the score (1-5) might not reflect it, I loved how hard our players played against a clearly superior opponent," Gross Jr. reflected after the game. "Unfortunately, we didn't maintain that intensity. Hopefully, our players took notice of what was being done by the Lions players and will incorporate that knowledge into the second half of our tour. Now, everyone needs to take a break mentally and physically to recharge."
 

It doesn't get any easier for the Blues as they will face No. 10 Long Beach State on Tuesday (Feb. 20) night.  The next night the opponent will be Concordia Irvine. A day off from games on Thursday will be followed by a Friday doubleheader versus Azusa Pacific University and Whittier College at the Tina Finali tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran. The tour will then conclude on Saturday morning with a game against Occidental College, also part of the tournament.