ROCK ISLAND, IL. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team repeated as the USA Water Polo Division III National Champions with their 14-13 overtime win over CMS on Sunday afternoon at the Anne Greve Lund Natatorium.
This is the first time that the Sagehens and Athenas have met on his type of stage as CMS enters into their first Division III National Championship on the women's side and Pomona-Pitzer enters as the defending Division III National Champions. Pomona-Pitzer and CMS met for the first time in the SCIAC Tournament Championship since 2014 earlier this season and Pomona-Pitzer has dominated the Athenas in all Sixth Street Rivalry games winning the past 18 times and haven't lost since 2011.
With the win, the Sagehens repeat the treble winning the SCIAC Regular Season Championship, the SCIAC Tournament Championship and the Division III National Championship.
The Sagehens were led by Tournament MVP, Abigail Wiesenthal who netted six goals in the championship game for the Sagehens. Alexandra Szczerba, Namlhun Jachung and Lulu Gaither had two while Kaylee Stigar and Madison Lewis had one each. Zosia Amberger got the win for the Sagehens in the cage and stopped 11 shots with two steals.
After keeping it close in the first half during their last encounter, the Sagehens made sure they started strong against the Athenas and netted five goals in the first quarter while limiting CMS to just two. Szczerba got the offense flowing for the Sagehens with the first goal of the game followed by long goal from Gaither and Stigar before CMS found the back of the net for the first time to make it 3-1. CMS and Pomona-Pitzer alternated goals as Wiesenthal netted her first goal of the game and Madison Lewis ended the first with a goal to make it 5-2 heading into the second.
Wiesenthal netted back-to-back goals to earn her hat-trick to start the second quarter while Jachung joined the scorers to give the Sagehens their largest lead of the day at 8-2. CMS responded with three-straight goals before Wiesenthal scored again from in front of the cage while Jachung and Gaither added goals to make it 11-5. CMS got one back just before halftime to cut the Sagehens lead down to 11-6 at the break.
The two teams flipped sides at halftime and flipped the script in a hurry as the Sagehens were uncharacteristically shutout for the entire third quarter. The Athenas were aggressive on defense and gave the Sagehens a lot of trouble trying to get the ball in good scoring positions while they continued to chip away at the lead at the other end. CMS clawed all the way back and found themselves down one at 11-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Sagehens broke their drought as Wiesenthal scored another goal for the Sagehens, but the Athenas answered back to come back within one goal with 2:41 to play in the fourth. The Sagehen defense turned away several CMS attempts at goal, but the Athenas were awarded a five-meter penalty with just six seconds to play. Despite getting a hand on the penalty, CMS tied the game at 12-12.
Pomona-Pitzer opened overtime with a goal from Wiesenthal off of a powerplay, but CMS got another five-meter penalty late in the first overtime to tie the game again at 13-13.
A thrilling second overtime period in the national championship went the way of Pomona-Pitzer after Szczerba netted the game winner with 2:33 to play. The Sagehen defense along with Amberger stayed solid down the stretch and came away with a big steal at the end of the game as the Sagehens repeated as National Champions.
