WHITTIER, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Water Polo team notched a huge conference win as they defeated Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent Whittier 20-7 on Wednesday night at the Slade Aquatics Center.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 5-2 overall and open up SCIAC play with a win to improve to 1-0 in conference play.
The Sagehens were led by Jocelyn Castro who had a game-high five goals in the win. Kahea Kahaulelio also notched a hat-trick with four goals in the win while Anna Yu, Colleen Woo and Natasha Rosenthal each had multi-goal games with two each.
The Sagehens dominated the Poets all game long and started early in the first quarter as they outscored Whittier 5-1. Castro got the scoring going early followed by the only goal by Whittier in the first to tie the game at 1-1 with 5:52 left in the quarter. The Sagehens ended the quarter with four-straight goals to end the quarter from Yu, Woo, and two from Kahaulelio to take a 5-1 lead after the first.
The Poets scored three more goals in the second but Pomona-Pitzer still outscored Whittier as they found the back of the net four times. The Poets cut the lead down to 7-4 with two minutes left in the half but the Sagehens added two more with a five-meter penalty by Castro and a goal by Kyla Pickell to end the half to take a 9-4 lead heading into halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer was even more dominate in the second half with five goals in the third and a game-high six goals in the fourth to post a season-high 20 goals in the win. The Sagehens also held the Poets to just three total goals in the second half as they finished off what was a big statement win in their opening SCIAC match.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host the 2018 Convergence Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Sagehens will take on Villanova at 1:40 p.m. and UC San Diego at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 2nd at Haldeman Pool.
