WHITTIER, Calif. – Day 1 of the women's water polo SCIAC Championships came to a close with three of the top four seeds (Pomona-Pitzer, Redlands Occidental) advancing to the winner's side of the bracket with play set to begin tomorrow, April 28 at 10:00am.
Game 1 (Redlands – 11, Whittier – 6)
The Poets who were playing in front of their home crowd got the Championships under way but was unable to overcome a 7-0 deficit early as Redlands rolled to the 11-6 victory despite a three goal effort from Katrina Thoreson in the fourth frame. The Bulldogs were led by Joy Corona who totaled seven goals with three of them coming in the second quarter.
Game 2 (Occidental – 5, La Verne – 3)
The second game of the Championships between Occidental and La Verne proved to be a nail biter till the end and a defensive standoff as well as the score after one quarter remained 1-1. But Occidental pulled away in the second with goals from Tessa Bailey-Findley and Corrine Casey that moved the score to 3-1. But with 1:11 to go in the frame La Verne's Bethie Ross connected on her first goal of the game off of a defender deflection to pull the Leopards to within one going into the break.
Coming out in the third Occidental tacked on two goals from Bailey Findley and Kelsey Shyba at the 3:51 and :59 marks that extended their lead to 5-2 going into the fourth. In the final quarter both programs stepped up the defense but La Verne managed to squeak a goal in at the 1:35 mark from Maddie Lovrensky that pulled them within two but that would be the only look they would get in the final two minutes as Occidental held on for the 5-3 victory.
Game 3 (Pomona-Pitzer – 12, Caltech – 2)
Caltech managed to push Pomona-Pitzer in the first quarter holding them to a mere three goals with two of them coming in the final 1:11 but saw the Sagehens pull away in the second quarter with seven goals from six different players. Annie Oxborough-Yankus, Sarah Wescott, and Perri Hopkins led the Sagehens with two goals apiece.
In the fourth quarter the Sagehens were held scoreless and saw Caltech add two goals from Erin Hoops and Prakriti Gaba with the last goal coming with :01 second left on the game clock that came by way of deflection off of a Sagehen defender.
Game 4 (Claremont-M-S – 10, Cal Lutheran – 4)
In the last game of Day 1 of the Championships No. 5 Claremont-M-S upset No. 4 Cal Lutheran by using a 4-0 run in the second quarter and a suffocating pressure defense that allowed a mere two goals in three quarters of play. Cal Lutheran got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Kelsey Bergemann but saw the Athena's add back to back goals from Candace Filippelli and Rose Koper to close out the quarter.
But CMS didn't stop there as they added four in the second quarter led by Filippelli who added three goals herself that extended the Athena lead to 6-1 going into the half. Coming out of the break Claremont-M-S added a quick goal from Kelly Davis but saw Regal utility player Haley Connor stop the run with a goal at the 3:06 mark.
The Athena's then closed out the game on a 3-2 run following the Regal goal that helped them preserve the six goal victory.
Day 2 (Game Timeline)
10:00am (No. 6 La Verne vs. No. 7 Whittier)
11:45am (No. 4 Cal Lutheran vs. No. 8 Caltech)
1:30pm (No. 2 Redlands vs. No. 3 Occidental)
3:15pm (No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer vs. No. 5 Claremont-M-S)
