CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team fell to 0-2 to open the 2024 Claremont Convergence Tournament with a 14-6 loss to No. 12 UC Irvine and a 12-10 loss to No. 24 San Diego State on Friday at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: with the losses, the Sagehens fall to 4-8 overall.
Pomona-Pitzer 6, UC Irvine 14
The Sagehens had six different goal scorers as
Kaylee Stigar,
Namlhun Jachung,
Nikki Rubottom,
Lisbon Zeigler,
Lulu Gaither, and
Paityn Richardson all found the back of the net in the loss.
Pomona-Pitzer had a hard time slowing down UC Irvine as the Anteaters netted eight goals in the first half alone. UCI jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first before Sitgar scored the first goal for the Sagehens, but UCI followed with three more to take a 5-1 lead.
Gaither scored her goal for the Sagehens in the second quarter, but the Anteaters scored three of the final four goals of the half with Rubottom getting on the board for the Sagehens as Pomona-Pitzer trailed 8-3 at halftime.
UCI opened the third with back-to-back goals to go up 10-3 to make it very difficult for the Sagehens to attempt any type of second-half comeback. Jachung, Zeigler, and Richardson netted second-half goals for the Sagehens, but UCI built too much of a lead early on as the Sagehens fell in their first game of the Convergence Tournament.
Pomona-Pitzer 10, SDSU 12.
The Sagehens were led by
Brienz Lang and Jachung who each scored a hat-trick for the Sagehens with three goals each.
Abigail Wiesenthal netted two while Stigar and
Ayva Magna had one.
The Sagehens played from behind in the final game of day one of the Claremont Convergence Tournament as the Aztecs scored three of the first four goals of the game to take a 3-1 lead. Magna ended the first with a goal for Pomona-Pitzer, but SDSU opened the second quarter with back-to-back goals to go up 5-2 with 5:29 left until halftime.
Jachung and Lang got on the board as the Sagehens alternated goals with SDSU, but the Aztecs scored a dagger right as the buzzer sounded to give them an extra goal heading into halftime with the Sagehens down 7-4.
The Sagehens came battling back in the third as Jachung opened the second half with a goal to make it a two-point game at 7-5. The Aztecs scored to get the lead back to three, but Wiesenthal and Jachung scored to cut the lead down to one goal at 8-7 with 1:27 to play in the third.
SDSU ended the third with a goal and opened the fourth with a goal to take a 10-7 lead before the Sagehens made their run with three straight goals from Lang, Wiesenthal, and Lang again to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:56 to play.
San Diego State scored the go-ahead goal with 1:17 left to play and the Sagehens' attempt of a tie was blocked as the Aztecs were able to ice the game and hold off Pomona-Pitzer for the win.
Up Next: The Sagehens will continue the Claremont Convergence Tournament on Saturday with games against USC and Siena at 11:45 AM and 4:45 PM.
