The UA women's rugby team hopes to improve upon its early season performances.

Eight freshmen made the trek on a two-game, two-day road swing in Southern California that saw UA drop both games.

The Wildcats lost to UCSB 10-0 Saturday. The team played with a lot of intensity but was overwhelmed by its inexperience and a number of penalties, team co-captain Danielle Bus said.

Sunday's game saw UA fall to Claremont 8-5 in another hard-fought encounter. Rookie Vanessa Buendia scored in just her third outing with the squad.

"(The road swing) was a really good experience for our new players," Bus said.

Injuries have plagued the ladies thus far this season, but it has provided an excellent opportunity for the rookie players to gain experience that will be vital later in the season, Bus said.

"We're very young, but we're going to just keep getting better once we recover from injuries and gain experience," said head coach Nancy Purdin.

The team is talented despite the inexperience and should be a contender in the conference by season's end, she said.

Arizona will have home field advantage for the first in the season on Feb. 21 when it hosts Arizona State.

Women's water polo team aims for May national championship bid

The UA women's water polo team has spent the duration of the 2003-2004 academic year focused on its goal of reaching the national championships in May.

Competition began in the fall of 2003 and has been building up to the season-ending competition.

Arizona won a tournament at the University of Texas in September, competed in tournaments in October and November, and had a strong showing last month in Florida.

The Florida tournament saw Arizona compete in two overtime games, including an OT loss to national powerhouse Florida State.

Only 10 girls made the trip to Florida, well short of the usual 20 the Wildcats carry, team captain Edie Gobel said.

The culmination of the long season begins in March when the UA travels to Park City, Utah, for its first conference tournament. A second conference tournament will be held at the UA on April 16.

These tournaments will determine the team's seeding in the national championship, at California Poly San Luis Obispo.

"When we're at full strength, we'll be really tough to beat," Gobel said. "We're confident we'll have a high seed (for the national tournament)."