CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team defeated Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent Chapman 10-6 on Senior Day at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 14-18 overall and 7-1 in SCIAC play to end the regular season.
Before the game, the Sagehens honored its four seniors in Ahsha Earwood, Christina Williamson, Chessa Burke and Hope Grant for Senior Day.
The Sagehens were led by sophomore Anna Yu and junior Jocelyn Castro who each shared a team-high two goals in the win.
Earwood got the win got the Sagehens as she totaled four saves in the first half to earn her eighth win of the season.
The Panthers were led by Emily Fong who had a team-high two goals in the loss.
Pomona-Pitzer started the scoring early as Castro found the back of the net within the first 20 seconds of the match to give the Sagehens a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers answered to tie the game at 1-1 but the Sagehens came back with five-straight goals to end the first as Castro, freshman Bella Villa, Grant and two goals from Yu pushed the lead to 6-1 heading into the second quarter.
The offense slowed down for the Sagehens in the second but still managed to outscore the Panthers 2-1 in the quarter. Pomona-Pitzer scored their first goal of the quarter as the twin duo combined for a goal as Nohea Kahaulelio found the back of the net off of a pass from Kahea Kahaulelio and added one more as sophomore Kyla Pickell scored on a power play off of an assist from Villa to push the lead to 8-1 with 1:29 remaining in the half.
Chapman got the final goal of the half as they scored a power play goal with just 50 seconds left on the clock to cut the Sagehen lead down to 8-2 heading into halftime.
The Sagehens and Panthers exchanged goals to open up the second half scoring as Burke scored an even strength goal to extend the lead to 9-2 but Fong responded for the Panthers under a minute later to cut the lead back down to 9-3.
The Panthers came out and scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter as Fong scored her second goal of the afternoon and Grace Schade netted a goal to cut the deficit down to 9-5 with just under four minutes to play.
The Sagehens answered as sophomore Janelle Lewis caused a turnover on defense and then scored her first goal of the afternoon to push the lead back up to five goals at 10-5.
Chapman outscored the Sagehens 3-1 in fourth quarter but the early lead built by Pomona-Pitzer in the first was too much for the Panthers to overcome as the Sagehens held on for the win.
Up Next: The Sagehens end the regular season with a 14-18 overall record and 7-1 in SCIAC play, which will land them the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Tournament hosted by La Verne on April 21st – 23rd .
