CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team split day one of Convergence with a 14-6 SCIAC win over Redlands and a 10-6 loss to No. 13 UC San Diego on Friday at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the split, the Sagehens move to 6-14 on the year and 2-0 in SCIAC play.
Pomona-Pitzer 14, Redlands 6
The Sagehens had four players with two goals in the win as Nadia Paquin, Lucie Abele, Allie Wong and Alexandra Szczerba all shared a game-high while Abigail Wiesenthal, Allison Sullivan Wu, Jessy Nesbit, Paulina Correa, Lulu Gaither and Nikki Rubottom all chipped in with one.
Pomona-Pitzer had a big first half to start their 2022 Convergence Tournament with eight goals in the first and second quarters. Sullivan Wu and Paquin got the scoring going for the Sagehens while Nesbit followed with a goal to take a 3-0 lead early in the first. Redlands broke the goal streak with their first of the day, but the Sagehens ended the quarter with goals from Rubottom and Gaither to take a 5-1 lead.
Abele got the Sagehens going in the second with back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 7-1 and the Sagehens added one more from Paquin as they outscored Redlands 3-0 In the second to take an 8-2 lead into halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer scored three of the first four goals of the second to take an 11-2 lead but Redlands came back with three-straight goals to end the third to cut the lead down to 11-5. The Bulldogs eventually got the game to within five goals at 11-6, but the Sagehens ended the fourth with goals from Szczerba, Wong and Wiesenthal to hold off Redlands for their second SCIAC win of the season.
Pomona-Pitzer 6, UC San Diego 10
The Sagehens were led by Szczerba who was the only Sagehen with multiple goals in the game with two in the loss. Wiesenthal, Namlhun Jachung, Kaylee Stigar and Gaither each had one as well.
The Tritons got out to a good start in the first quarter with the first three goals of the game before the Sagehens answered with a goal from Stigar to cut it down to 3-1 in the first. UCSD responded with another goal but the Sagehens ended the first with a goal from Szczerba to cut the lead down to 4-2 heading into the second.
Wiesenthal opened the second with a goal to cut it down to one goal at 4-3 and the Sagehens tied the game off of a shot from Gaither to bring the score even at 4-4 with 6:16 left in the first half. The Tritons didn't let the Sagehens take a lead in the second as they answered with a goal to make it 5-4 at halftime.
The Tritons took over the game in the third as they outscored the Sagehens 3-0 and took a big 8-4 lead into the fourth. The Sagehens had multiple chances to cut into the lead but couldn't find the right offense in the second half. Jachung and Szczerba netted goals in the fourth but it wasn't enough as the Sagehens came up short against UC San Diego to cap off day one of the Claremont Convergence Tournament.
Up Next: The Sagehens will continue their play in the Convergence Tournament with games on Saturday against Concordia at 11:30 a.m. and Azusa Pacific at 3:15 p.m.
