CLAREMONT, CA. – The No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team captured the 2022 SCIAC Tournament Championship with a 16-12 win over Whittier on Sunday morning at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens complete the SCIAC double as they were crowned SCIAC Regular Season Champions as well as SCIAC Tournament Champions. The Sagehens improve to 22-15 overall and earned the right to host the 2022 Collegiate Water Polo Division III National Championships.
Madison Lewis was named the SCIAC Tournament MVP as she finished with three goals and four assists in the win. Abigail Wiesenthal also netted a hat-trick with three goals while Allison Sullivan Wu and Lulu Gaither had two each and Katherine Cullen, Nadia Paquin, Lucie Abele, Namlhun Jachung, Kaylee Stigar and Alexandra Szczerba each chipped in with one. May Lin started for the Sagehens inside the cage and tallied nine saves.
The Sagehens had the hot hand early on in the SCIAC Championship after they started with three-straight goals by Jachung, Abele and Wiesenthal to hold an early 3-0 lead. Whittier got on the board with 3:45 left in the first but the Sagehens responded with two of the final three goals of the first to take a 5-2 lead into the second quarter.
The Sagehens and Poets exchanged goals to open the second with Sullivan Wu finding the back of the net and then back-to-back goals from Stigar and Lewis to put the Sagehens up 8-3 with 5:17 left before halftime. Whittier got back into the game late in the second half with three of the final four goals of the half, but the Sagehens still held a 9-6 lead at the break.
Both teams came out in the second half and answered each other's goals to start the third. Gaither and Sullivan Wu started the Sagehens out with goals to move the score to 11-7 before the Poets netted back-to-back goals to cut the lead down to 11-9 with 2:12 left in the third. The Sagehens regrouped on offense and ended the quarter with two goals from Lewis and Wiesenthal to extend the lead to 13-9 heading into the fourth.
The Poets made it very interesting in the final quarter of play as they opened the fourth with three-straight goals to make it a one-goal game at 13-12 with 3:46 left to play. Paquin answered with a big goal for the Sagehens, and Lewis put the game out of reach at 15-12 with her hat-trick goal with just over a minute to play. Cullen ended the day for the Sagehens with one final shot past the Whittier keeper as the Sagehens returned to the top of the SCIAC in 2022.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host the Collegiate Water Polo Division III National Championships on Saturday, May 7th against a team to be determined.
