CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team repeated as SCIAC Tournament Champions with their 9-5 win over SCIAC rival CMS on Sunday Afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
With the win, the Sagehens earn their second-straight SCIAC Championship and have now won four of the past five SCIAC Tournaments.
The Sagehens were led by the Championship MVP Brienz Lang who netted four goals in the win. Alexandra Szczerba and Namlhun Jachung had two goals while Mia Amberger chipped in with one. Zosia Amberger got the win for the Sagehens in goal and played fantastically for all four quarters with 12 saves and a steal.
A nervy first few minutes of the game for both teams that saw CMS take the opening lead of the quarter in the first minute. Lang netted her first in response while Jachung gave the Sagehens their first lead of the day at 2-1 to end the first quarter.
CMS came back to tie the game in the opening stages of the second quarter, but the Sagehens reclaimed their advantage as Szczerba fired in a shot to make it 3-2. The Sagehens took their first multi-goal lead of the game as Lang netted her second of the game, but the Athenas scored the final goal of the half to get it back down to a one-goal lead for Pomona-Pitzer as the Sagehens led 4-3 at the break.
Pomona-Pitzer came out of halftime with a huge third quarter that was the turning point in the game as they started out with three unanswered goals. Szczerba started the half with a goal off of a nice feed from Jachung on a breakaway and then Jachung and Amberger found the back of the net to give the Sagehens their largest lead of the night at 7-3. CMS would go on and score a goal on the final second of the quarter to make it interesting to cut the lead down to three goals at 7-4 heading into the fourth.
The Athenas did what they needed to do to open the fourth quarter and scored the opening goal to make it 7-5, but the Sagehens stayed composed and responded with back-to-back goals from the MVP Lang as the Sagehens claimed their second consecutive SCIAC Tournament Championship.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next compete in the USA Water Polo Collegiate National Championship on Saturday, May 6th at 2:00 p.m. in Rock Island, IL.
