MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Biola Women's Water Polo got goals from 12 different field players as it took down UC Merced to begin play at the 2025 Western Water Polo Association Championships on Thursday.

The Eagles adjusted quickly to shooting (and scoring) inside of a huge indoor facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, piling on 25 scores and holding UC Merced to just two second-half goals in a dominant 25-8 win.

This is Biola's third victory of the season against the Bobcats, with the team's margin of victory increasing each time out. BU beat UC Merced by nine at their place, by 15 at Splash and now by 17 in this tournament setting.

"We have great depth on our roster this season. This performance today speaks to the caliber of athletes we have on our roster," said acting head coach Elyssa Hawkins. "For everyone to have the opportunity to get touches on the ball helps towards confidence building. This is a complete team effort."

The offense was consistent all day long as BU scored five goals or more in each of the four quarters. Early on the defense was not its typical stalwart self as exclusions piled up and gave UC Merced some easy looks on offense. The Bobcats converted four times in the second period, making the Eagles take a second look at the defensive effort at the halftime break.

The team locked back in on defense in the second half, limiting the Bobcats to just two goals and only eight shots in the second half. Six of those eight shots turned into blocks for Chloe McKay who once again stood out for BU. The Eagles also forced 11 Merced turnovers over that final 16 minutes of game time, including two shot clock violations forced.

"It was a good game to just get the tournament first game cobwebs out. We had a long travel day earlier this week, so this was a great way to give our team the feel for what it means to be in an indoor pool," said Hawkins. "We have a lot of people who are new to this tournament so it was great to get them the experience they needed to increase their game awareness on offense and defense."

The Eagles' had 12 players score a goal, but they also had 12 players earn at least one steal in this one. A true testament to the tenacity on both ends of the pool. Four Eagles finished this game with hat tricks, including two freshmen Gwen Pidd and Desiny Moreno. 

The other hat trick heroes were Veralie Naranjo and Mia Mulhall. A lot of their scoring was set up by Lizzy Birch, who led the team with six points off one goal and five assists. The five assists is a new career-high for Birch.

"It felt good to get a big win today," said Mia Mulhall. "We've been working so hard all season, every day. Moving forward we look to connect more and play really hard. We want to look like we're trying our hardest in every game we play."

The game will not count towards the Eagles' overall record or official statistics as the WWPA deemed these matches with UC Merced as exhibitions. The No. 1 West seed will begin its counting tournament matches on Saturday afternoon against CSU Monterey Bay. Biola and the Otters will have their opening sprint at 1 p.m. local time (10 a.m. PT).

"Our hope now as we look ahead is to continue the things we're doing well, clean up and improve the few things we need to work on and make the most of having this learning opportunity in a game setting," said Hawkins.

Follow Saturday's match on live statistics via the FOSH. Follow the free live stream at this link. Keep up with all the Western Water Polo Association Championship action at the tournament central page.