CLAREMONT, CA. -- The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team was crowned as the USA Water Polo Division III National Champions after their 8-6 win over Whittier College on Sunday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
The Sagehens earned the triple crown in 2022 after they earned the Division III National Championship, the SCIAC Tournament Championship and the SCIAC Regular Season Championship.
The Sagehens were led by Tournament MVP Namlhun Jachung who scored two goals and four assists in the win. Abigail Wiesenthal and Lucie Abele netted two goals as well while Allison Sullivan Wu and Alexandra Szczerba scored one. May Lin got the start and the win for the Sagehens in the cage while after she played the first half with two saves and Zosia Amberger finished the game for the Sagehens with 6 saves in the second half.
Pomona-Pitzer never trailed in its win over Whittier and got ahead early in the first quarter with the first three goals of the game. Jachung netted the first goal of the game after an exclusion on Whittier and Sullivan Wu also scored a powerplay goal within the first two minutes of the game to take a 2-0 lead. Wisenthal scored the first even strength goal for the Sagehens to take a 3-0 lead before Whittier scored its first goal of the game to cut it down to 3-1.
The Sagehens and Poets exchanged goals to end the first quarter as Szczerba found the net for the Sagehens to make it 4-2 Sagehens entering the second quarter.
The Poets cut it down to one goal with the opening score of the second quarter, but the Sagehens came back with the final goal of the first half from Abele to give the Sagehens a 5-3 lead at the break.
The Sagehens opened the second half with a goal from Wiesenthal to double up on the Poets at 6-3 as the Sagehens and Ambegrer kept Whittier off the scoreboard in the third to take their three-goal lead into the fourth.
Whittier cut the lead down to two at 6-4 early in the fourth to try to give themselves a shot at a comeback, but the Sagehens answered from Abele and a break-away from Jachung to make it 8-5 with 1:54 left in the game.
After the Sagehens spent the next possessions running down the clock, the Poets netted a goal to make it 8-6 with 30 seconds left, but the Sagehens did enough damage as they were able to run out the clock and earn the first-ever USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championship.
