Cambridge, Mass. - The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team scored on its first possession for a 1-0 lead, but top-ranked USC cruised from there for a 27-1 win in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships at Harvard University on Friday afternoon.
Pomona-Pitzer falls to 18-17 on the year with the loss and will move on to a consolation game tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. against the loser of the quarterfinal match-up between Hawaii and UC San Diego. USC improves to 25-1 overall and will face the Hawaii-UCSD winner at 5:15 p.m.
After the Sagehens earned a stop on the first USC possession, freshman Katy Schaefer (Los Altos, Calif. - pictured, photo by Gil Talbot) ripped in a shot from the right side of the pool to give Pomona-Pitzer a 1-0 lead at the 7:25 mark. Senior goalie Sarah Tuggy (Los Angeles, Calif.) then had a pair of saves to preserve the lead a little longer.
Monica Vavic, though, scored for USC at the 5:20 mark, ending a stretch of 2:05 in which the Sagehens had the lead against the top-ranked team in the nation. Nicolina McCall then scored three straight goals for the Trojans on counters at the 4:14, 3:52 and 2:24 marks to give USC a 4-1 lead, and the outcome was never in doubt from there.
Pomona-Pitzer hit the crossbar five times in the game to try to get a second goal, but were unable to put much pressure on goalie Flora Belonyai, as most of its 18 shots were taken from long range. Schafer took seven shots overall, while sophomore Alyssa Woodward (Riverside, Calif.) took three. Vavic and Dominique Sardo each had four goals to lead USC, while McCall and Jayde Appel had three apiece.
The Sagehens are making their fifth NCAA appearance in the last seven years as SCIAC champions. They have been the eighth seed each time, and have faced matched up with the No. 1 team in the nation (UCLA twice, Stanford twice and USC once) in the first round. Pomona-Pitzer has had some success in the consolation rounds, earning seventh-place finishes in its first two appearances (2007, 2009) with one-goal wins, while dropping close ones in the seventh-place games in 2010 (one goal) and 2012 (overtime to Iona).
