LOS ANGELES – The University of Hawai'i women's water polo team ended the MPSF Tournament strong, taking home fifth place with a 7-6 victory over San Diego State Sunday afternoon at the Spieker Aquatics Complex on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

UH, the No. 4 seed, won two straight games to finish the tournament. The Rainbow Wahine end the regular season with an 18-8 overall record. The selection for the NCAA Championships is on Monday, May 3, as three at-large teams are taken to join the eight-team field.

In the fourth period, San Diego State (21-15) opened with their first goal in two periods coming one minute into play, cutting the UH lead to 7-4. The Rainbow Wahine controlled the clock for the remaining of the period, until the Aztecs scored with 55 seconds left to cut the UH lead to 7-5. San Diego State added a late goal to make the final score 7-6.

To start the third period, Carmen Eggens scored her second goal of the game, giving UH a 6-3 lead with 6:19 left in the period. Carmen Eggens continued her hot play, scoring her third goal at the 2:14 mark of the period to give UH a 7-3 lead. The UH defense was also strong, holding San Diego State scoreless for two straight periods, behind the goalkeeping of Serena Bredin.

UH took its first lead of the game in the second period, as Monika Eggens scored her second goal of the game 50 seconds into the period. Carmen Eggens scored her first goal of the game with just over two minutes remaining in the half to give UH a 5-3 lead.

In the first period, the Rainbow Wahine fell behind first for the third straight game, as the Aztecs scored 2:18 seconds into the period on a power-play goal. San Diego State scored a minute later to start the game with a 2-0 lead. Saara Majuri got the Rainbow Wahine on the board in the first with a goal coming at the 2:42 mark to cut into the lead. Amarens Genee tied the game for UH with her fifth goal of the tournament, coming with 52 seconds left in the first period. San Diego State scored with five seconds left in the period to lead 3-2, but Monika Eggens scored with two seconds left to tie the score 3-3 after one.