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Pacific Tigers water polo captures third straight GCC title

Pacific Tigers women's water polo are Golden Coast Conference champions for third straight year with automatic bid to NCAA Tournament.

Pacific Tigers water polo captures third straight GCC title

In a rematch of last year's Golden Coast Conference (GCC) title match, the No. 1 seeded Pacific Tigers pulled off a 13-9 win against No. 3 Loyola Marymount University (LMU) on Sunday at the Fresno State Aquatic Center. The Tigers earned their third straight GCC Championship and end the conference tournament with a record of 17-8, 7-0 in the conference. 

GCC Player of the Year Kyra Christmas '21 recorded five goals to claim her second tournament MVP honors. Christmas provided a late spark to give the Tigers the cushion they needed tallying two goals late in the fourth to put her team up 13-8 with just under two minutes to play. Brinnley Barthels '19, Viktoria Szmodics '19, and Kyra Christmas all earned All-GCC Tournament honors. This was Barthels first All-Tournament selection and Szmodics' second. 

Following their win, Pacific clinched an automatic bid to this year's NCAA Championships. The Tigers make their second-straight NCAA Championships appearance, receiving the No. 7 seed and will take on Cal Lutheran (21-8) on Tuesday, May 7, at 1:45 p.m. at the Stanford Avery Aquatic Center. 

View a Pacific GCC Championship Photo Gallery.

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