Photo: Tony Leon/D3WestPhotography

CLAREMONT, Calif. (May. 7, 2022) – The Whittier College women's water polo team punched their ticket to the championship game of the inaugural Division III women's water polo national tournament with a 14-9 victory over Austin College on Saturday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.

The Poets asserted their dominance in the second period, overcoming some early-game jitters to put a beating on the Kangaroos heading into halftime. Senior center Natasha Velez (La Habra, Calif. / Cypress College) had the game of her career with five goals, but threatened Austin in front of the net all game long, even before the Purple & Gold had found its offensive groove. The senior's first goal of the game came on a powerplay that broke up any hope of early game momentum for the opposing team from Texas, finishing on a nice dish from junior defender Ally Burke (Las Vegas, Nev. / Bishop Gorman). Senior Teresa Marchetti (Messina, Italy / Liceo La Farina) would score another powerplay goal for the Poets to close the first period, tying the game at 3-3 with seven seconds to go. Whittier finished the game 5-for-7 with the advantage and is unbeaten in games when they shoot better than 60 percent on the powerplay.

Whittier rode the momentum from Marchetti's goal into the second period where some of the team's key defenders, such as senior Karissa Qualley (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Long Beach City College), helped the cause of freshman goalkeeper Alexys Puche (Whittier, Calif. / Rosary) by clearing the ball out of the zone to set up counterattacks and creating traffic in front of the net for Puche to make some routine saves. The freshman stepped up when needed, however, stopping half the shots she faced over the full 32 minutes while wowing the fans in attendance with some key saves in the second period, which served as the pivot point for the second-seeded Poets. Following a successful two-meter penalty shot from Burke to open the period, goals from Velez, Velez again, and senior Bryanna Santis (Commerce, Calif. / Fullerton College) paved the way for a 4-0 period for Whittier that put Austin on the brink while taking some pressure off of themselves going into the second half.

Having settled into the flow of the game, the Poets continued to dominate throughout the third and fourth quarters, leading by as many as seven goals at one point. Burke, along with freshman Emily Flores (Newbury Park, Calif. / Newbury Park) tied for the team lead with a pair of assists while the former player helped the Poets with three goals, second only to Velez. Santis also had three goals, while Marchetti and senior Alex Lopez (Boyle Heights, Calif. / Fullerton College) each had two tallies. 

Head Coach David Kasa and the Poets will line up to play SCIAC champion Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, the top-ranked Division III program in the country in Sunday's finals with a Division III National Championship on the line. The Sagehens dispatched fourth-seeded Augustana College earlier in the day, and will now have to get through their toughest test of the SCIAC regular season in order to lock up SCIAC and national titles.

Sunday's championship game is set for a 12:30 p.m. start time.

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