CLAREMONT, Ca. – The No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team punched their ticket to the SCIAC Tournament Championship game with an 11-5 win over Cal Lutheran in the SCIAC Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 21-15 overall and advance to the SCIAC Tournament Championship as well as earn a spot in the Collegiate Water Polo Division III National Championships.
The Sagehens were led by Katherine Cullen and Nadia Paquin who shared a team-team two goals in the win while Aurora Sheridan, Allison Sullivan Wu, Madison Lewis, Lucie Abele, Namlhun Jachung, Kaylee Stigar and Alexandra Szczerba all found the back of the net once. May Lin started in goal for the Sagehens and had a huge impact with 10 saves and five steals.
Pomona-Pitzer got out to a great start in the first highlighted by the defense and Lin who kept the Regals scoreless through the entirety of the first quarter. However, the Sagehens' offense got going early as Jachung opened the game with a goal less than a minute in followed by goals from Sullivan Wu, Paquin and Stigar to put the Sagehens up 4-0 after the first.
Cal Lutheran opened the second with their first goal of the game, but the Sagehens responded with a goal from Lewis as each team netted one goal in the second to head into halftime with the Sagehens up 5-1.
Pomona-Pitzer kept the offense going in the third with three-straight goals from Abele, Szczerba and Paquin to take a big 8-1 lead before the Regals closed the third with a goal and opened the fourth with two more to make it 8-4 with six minutes left to play. The Sagehens put a stop to the attempted comeback with back-to-back goals from Cullen and ended the day with a goal from Sheridan in the closing seconds to walk their way into the SCIAC Tournament Championship game.
Up Next: The Sagehens will host Whittier College for the SCIAC Tournament Championship on Sunday, April 24th at 11:00 a.m.
