CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team advanced to the USA Water Polo Collegiate Division III National Championship after their 21-6 win over Augustana on Saturday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
The Sagehens were led by Abigail Wiesenthal who led all scorers with four goals. Allison Sullivan Wu, Nadia Paquin, and Alexandra Szczerba also netted hat-tricks with three, Namlhun Jachung ended with two and Katherine Cullen, Madison Lewis, and Lucie Abele all contributed with one. May Lin got the start inside the cage and picked up the win with two saves while Zosia Amberger also logged minutes in goal with two saves as well.
The Sagehens started out with the lead after Paquin found the back of the net from point-blank range to go up 1-0. The Vikings responded with their first goal of the game to tie it at 1-1 but the Sagehens went on a 4-0 run to end the first quarter with goals from Paquin, Sullivan Wu, Abele, and Szczerba to take a 5-1 lead into the second.
Pomona-Pitzer kept the scoring going early into the second quarter after Lewis netted a goal after an Augustana exclusion and a five-meter penalty from Paquin put the Sagehens up 7-1 with 6:39 left before halftime.
Augustana netted the next goal of the game to cut it to 7-2 and then took advantage of an open net to score back-to-back goals to make it 7-3 with nine seconds to play. The Sagehens came back within the final nine seconds of the game and scored the final goal of the half from Wiesenthal to take an 8-3 lead into halftime.
The Sagehens and Wiesenthal opened the second half with a powerplay goal but the Vikings responded with a goal to keep the Sagehen lead at five goals with a 9-4 lead.
Jachung came back with back-to-back goals for the Sagehens to push the lead to 11-4 and Wiesenthal and Szczerba added two more to make it 13-4.
The Vikings ended the third with two of the final three goals but Cullen scored for the Sagehens late to make it 14-6 heading into the fourth.
The Sagehens shut out Augustana in the fourth quarter but still added offense from Wiesenthal, Sullivan Wu, and Szczerba to walk their way into the Division III National Championship.
Up Next: The Sagehens will face Whittier College in the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship on Sunday, May 8th at 12:30 p.m.
