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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