NEW LONDON, Conn. — Division III No. 7-ranked Macalester College received hat-tricks from Players of the Game Jess Palmer-Sammons (So., Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) and Alana Nadolski (So., Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III regular season runner-up Scots overwhelmed Carthage College, 11-4, in the second game on the first day of the 2024 CWPA Division III Championship hosted by Connecticut College at the Jane Cadwell Lott ’36 Natatorium.
Macalester (13-4, 7-1 CWPA Division III) advances to a 1:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific semifinal showdown on Saturday, April 20, against the victor of a first round game matching No. 9-ranked Austin College and Penn State Behrend. Carthage (4-13, 3-5 CWPA Division III) falls into the consolation side of the bracket and will take on the fallen from the Kangaroos-Lions game at 10:00 a.m. Eastern/7:00 a.m. Pacific on April 20 with a spot in the championship’s Fifth Place game on the line.
The 2017, 2018 and 2019 CWPA Division III Champion, Macalester never trailed versus the Firebirds as Palmer-Sammons (6:48), Nadolski (5:18) and 2024 CWPA Division III Rookie of the Year Pooja Bucklin (Fr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) (2:45) swished shots to stake the Scots to a 3-0 margin. Yamila Areizaga (So., Chicago, Ill./Lincoln Park) snapped the scoring run with 2:21 on the clock by spinning in a man-up response for Carthage to set the scoreboard at 3-1 after eight minutes of action.
Brenna Carstens (So., Coronado, Calif./Coronado) continued Carthage’s outburst by tossing in a tally with 6:20 on the second quarter clock to inch the Firebirds within striking distance at 3-2.
However, Kendall Coney (Jr., League City, Texas/Clear Creek) and Olivia Dimka (Jr., Denton, Texas/John H, Guyer) answered for Macalester at the 3:21 and 2:43 marks, respectively, to inflate the lead back to three at 5-2.
The teams traded scoring blows in the final 40 seconds of the first half as Abigail Karpluk (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and Dimka dented the twine with 37 and 17 seconds remaining, respectively, as Macalester went into halftime clutching a 6-3 lead.
The third quarter saw limited offensive output as consecutive strikes by Nadolski at 7:34 and 5:47 were the lone markers to enlarge Macalester’s lead to 8-3.
Victoria Hodges (Sr., Oxford, Mich./Lake Orion) commenced the fourth quarter with a power-play goal at the 5:30 mark to shrink the gap to 8-4, but Palmer-Sammons (3:37, 2:08) and Bucklin (1:03, man-up) closed out Macalester’s 11-4 victory with a trio of tallies.
For the Scots, Palmer-Sammons (three), Nadolski (three), Dimka (two) and Bucklin (two) posted multi-goal games, while Coney connected for a solo marker. Goalkeeper Laurel O’Hare (Sr., Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) made eight saves to claim the victory.
Karpluk, Carstens, Hodges and Areizaga each scored once for Carthage in support of an 11 save performance by goalkeeper Ella Selman (So., Naperville, Ill./Naperville North).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Carthage College |
1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Division III No. 7 Macalester College | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | – | 11 |
| Macalester Goals: | Jess Palmer-Sammons (3); Alana Nadolski (3); Olivia Dimka (2); Pooja Bucklin (2); Kendall Coney | |||||
| Carthage Goals: | Abigail Karpluk; Brenna Carstens; Victoria Hodges; Yamila Areizaga | |||||
| Saves: | Macalester – Laurel O’Hare (8) ; Carthage – Ella Selman (11) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Macalester – 8 ; Carthage – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Macalester – 1-for-6; Carthage – 2-for-8 | |||||
| Sprints: | Macalester – 4-for-4 ; Carthage – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Michael Francis, Joe Peila | |||||
Carthage College’s Alyssa Sayatovic (#2) looks for an opening as Macalester College’s Hannah Fasi (#3) pursues
Carthage College’s Alyssa Sayatovic (#2) defends Macalester College’s Sian Lewandowski (#8)
Macalester College’s Kendall Coney (#4) lunges on defense against Carthage College’s Victoria Hodges (#7)
