NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Emily Milton (So., Reedley, Calif.) scored four times, including a trio in the decisive fourth quarter, to collect Player of the Game accolades as Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 1-ranked California Polytechnic State University shattered a five-all tie at the conclusion of the third quarter to outlast and overcome Northwest Division Champion/No. 7 the University of Washington 9-5, in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Notre Dame at the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
The win advances Cal Poly into a semifinal clash at 6:20 p.m. this evening against the victor of a quarterfinal pitting Southeast Division Champion/No. 6 the University of Florida versus North Atlantic Division Champion/Division III No. 2 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Washington will take on the fallen from the Florida-MIT game at 7:30 p.m. with a berth in the Fifth Place game on the line.
Tied at three-all exiting halftime and five-all going into the fourth quarter, the seven-time National Champion Mustangs (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) took command of the game as Milton ticked off even-strength (6:31), man-up (4:31) and five-meter penalty shot (3:46) scores, as Washington head coach Rudy Ramirez called a timeout without possession of the ball. Hallie Anderson (So., Roseville, Calif.) capped off the surge to victory by stroking in a six-on-five opportunity with 2:36 to go in regulation for the the 9-5 final score.
The four-goal outburst was the finale for a 6-0 surge for Cal Poly as Washington held a 5-3 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter. However, Maddie David (So., Pleasanton, Calif.) ignited the Mustangs comeback by slicing in natural tallies at 3:09 and 1:22 to deadlock the squads at five-all heading into the final seven minute quarter of regulation.
Neither team was able to muster much offense in the first half as Cal Poly jumped on the board first at the 6:25 mark of the first quarter via a man-up score by Sanam Ghazvini (Jr., San Jose, Calif.). Karli Stone (Jr., Tacoma, Wash.) squared the squads at one-all at 3:43 before Milton (man-up, 1:44) and Stone (1:32, even-strength) exchanged tallies to make it two-all after seven minutes of play.
Cal Poly once again acquired the lead to commence the second quarter as Ghazvini flushed another six-on-five bid at 5:12 to push the Mustangs ahead at 3-2. However, the Huskies barked back courtesy a power-play strike by Stone at 3:58 to make it three-all heading into halftime.
Washington appeared to gain momentum in the third quarter as Stone (4:19) and Natalie Erjavec (So., Mountain View, Calif.) (3:23) dented the twine to give the Huskies their inaugural lead of the contest (4-3) and some insurance (5-3), but Cal Poly got loose from its pen for the remainder of the game and could not be corralled as the Mustangs stampeded back for the win.
Milton (four), David (two) and Ghazvini (two) all posted multi-goal games for Cal Poly with Anderson finding the back of the cage once.
Stone keyed the Washington attack with four goals to tie Milton for game high-scoring honors Erjavec also scored once for the Huskies.
In cage, Sammi Tovani (Jr., Danville, Calif.) earned the win for Cal Poly with eight saves, while Shelby Smith (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) suffered the defeat for Washington with eight stops.
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