Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Women's Water Polo Championships got underway Friday at the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center on the campus of Whittier College.
Three of the top four seeds all advanced into the semi-finals of Day 2 of the Championships with No. 4 Cal Lutheran being upset by No. 5 Redlands in the nightcap with a last second goal 11-10.
Game 1 (La Verne – 15; Caltech – 3)
In the Championship Play-In Game, Caltech managed to hold La Verne to just one goal in the first quarter but six in the second and four in both the third and fourth would send the Leos to the 15-3 victory.
Francis Viste led the offensive unit for La Verne with three goals all coming in the second half, while Justine Mojarro finished with two goals and an assist.
Holding onto a slim 1-0 lead after the first quarter, La Verne's Lora Marquez-Salgado would add the first of the second thirty seconds in, which would open the floodgates as ULV would add another two en route to going into the break up 10-2.
La Verne would add another four in the third from four different players and would tack on another four in the fourth bringing the goal total to 15 on the afternoon from 11 different players.
Caltech added their first goal in the second at the 3:24 mark and would add their second and third in the second half coming from Monica Enlow and Soumya Kannon (2).
Caltech now moves into the Consolation Play-In game tomorrow afternoon at 1:00pm as they take on Chapman with the winner advancing to the night game against Occidental at 7:00pm.
Game 2 (Claremont-M-S – 12; Chapman – 6)
Claremont-M-S held onto a one goal lead at halftime 4-3 in one of their lowest first half offensive outputs of the season. But Alex Toohey managed to pull the Athena's away in the second half as CMS would defeat the Panthers of Chapman University 12-6.
CMS used a 4-1 run to open the third quarter to move the score to 8-4 heading into the fourth thanks to two goals from Toohey, who finished with four for the game tied with Candace Filippelli who also had four.
Chapman managed to pull within three with a goal from Emiko Mizusawa with 42 seconds to play in the third but that's as close as they would get as the Athena's would outscore the Panthers 4-1 in the final stanza en route to the victory.
Both Allison Hu (CMS) and Jordan Gilmore (CU) had nine saves in goal, while Kate Staskus and Mizusama had two goals apiece for the Panthers.
With the win, CMS moves into the first semi-final against host Whittier College at 4:00pm tomorrow afternoon, while Chapman drops into the Consolation Play-In game against Caltech at 1:00pm with the winner taking on Occidental in the nightcap at 7:00pm.
Game 3 (Whittier – 13; Occidental – 9)
Occidental couldn't keep up with host Whittier College in game three of the Championships as the Poets would roll to the 13-9 victory behind a four goal effort from freshman Jenel Rivera.
This marks the third time the Poets have beaten the Tigers this season as WC improves to 21-15, 7-2 SCIAC.
Falling behind early 2-0 the Poets rebounded to put together four unanswered to end the first quarter up 4-2. Oxy's Kelsey Shyba would pull the Tigers within one to start off the second but three straight from the Purple & Gold would extend the score to 7-3 with 3:01 to play in the half.
The Tigers would add the first goal out of the break to pull within three but a 3-0 run from Rivera (2), and Isabella Gorrocino would move the margin back to six.
In the final eight minutes, Oxy managed to outscore the Poets 4-2 but it wouldn't be enough to beat the Poets at home as Whittier held on for the four goal victory.
Senior Mattie Winkler between the posts collected eight saves, which included a big five meter save in the second quarter. Freshman Arlin De La Mora collected three goals to follow Rivera.
Lizzy Roskin led the Tigers on offense with three goals, while Shyba and Katie Gibbs, each recorded two apiece.
Whittier now moves into the first semi-final tomorrow afternoon sat 4:00pm as they take on No. 2 Claremont-M-S.
Occidental will wait to see who they will face tomorrow evening at 7:00pm between Chapman and Caltech who play at 1:00pm.
Game 4 (Pomona-Pitzer – 11; La Verne – 6)
Alyssa Woodward for Pomona-Pitzer added a game high five goals helping the Sagehens advance to the second semi-final tomorrow against Redlands after defeating La Verne 11-6.
Pomona-Pitzer seeks their third straight Conference Title after defeating Redlands in the finals in both 2012 (SD OT) and in 2013.
Woodward added the first two goals of the game and Mahalia Prater-Fahey added her first to give the Sagehens a 3-1 first quarter advantage. Woodward would add another two in the second, sandwiched between a goal from Megan Snow that built the lead to 6-2 at the half.
La Verne added the first goal out of intermission from Maddie Lovrensky to pull within three but back to back tallies from Prater-Fahey and Christina Williamson brought PP back out in front by five 8-3.
The teams swapped goals to open the fourth and Woodward would add her fifth of the game with 5:40 to play to extend the Sagehen lead 10-4 and despite back to back scores from Melanie Consiglio and Lovrensky, Brenda Iglesias would seal the victory for PP with a 2:00 goal that moved the final score to 11-6.
La Verne takes on Cal Lutheran tomorrow at 2:30pm in the first consolation game, while Pomona-Pitzer moves into the semi-finals against Redlands at 5:30pm.
Game 5 (Redlands – 11; Cal Lutheran -10)
In the nightcap, No. 4 Cal Lutheran took on No. 5 Redlands in a game that went down to the final seconds with the Bulldogs emerging victorious with an upset win to cap off Day 1.
Redlands kept their streak alive looking to make it into their second straight SCIAC Championship Title Game as they knocked off Cal Lutheran University 11-10.
CLU jumped out in front quickly 4-2 after the first quarter and moved it to three 5-2 to open the second but four unanswered by the Bulldogs led by Grace Cochran (2) would put UR in front for the first time in the game 6-5.
The Regals managed to stop the bleeding coming out of a timeout with 1:33 to play from Adrienne Ingalla that knotted the game up forcing the game into a tie 6-6 at the break.
Out of the half, CLU would score on their first possession and increased their lead back to two 8-6 but it would soon slip away as Redlands would add another three unanswered to flip a two goal deficit into a 9-8 advantage. Cal Lutheran managed to tie the game up with 4:48 to play and then went out in front for the third time 10-9 capitalizing on a man-up situation but Redlands again responded with a goal from Deandra Van Houten on their next possession that tied the game up with 3:27 to play. After three minutes of stalemate water polo and OT looming, Redlands came down with ten seconds left and managed to get the ball out to Jaci Cochrane on the wing who tossed in a lob over Regal goalie Gina Merry for the game winner.
Julie Lupfer for Redlands finished with four saves in goal, while Merry collected five for Cal Lutheran.
Redlands advances to the second semi-final game to face off against Pomona-Pitzer at 5:30pm, with Cal Lutheran dropping into the Consolation game against La Verne at 2:30pm.
Saturday, April 26
1. Game 6: 1:00pm Chapman (#7) vs Caltech (#9) (Consolation Play-In)
2. Game 7: 2:30pm Cal Lutheran (#4) vs La Verne (#8) (Consolation)
3. Game 8: 4:00pm Claremont-M-S (#2) vs Whittier (#3) (Semi-Finals)
4. Game 9: 5:30pm Pomona-Pitzer (#1) vs Redlands (#5) (Semi-Finals)
5. Game 10: 7:00pm Occidental (#6) vs. W6 (Consolation)
