ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Fresh off their inaugural season in 2022, the Augustana College Vikings women’s water polo team took huge strides in year two, improving their final standing at both the conference and national levels. The team improved upon their win total by eight games, finishing with a 17-6 record in 2023.
After an season-opening loss to McKendree University, the Vikings bounced back with wins in their next five games, starting with a 16-13 victory over National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I opponent the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Augie squeaked out a one-point win over Ottawa University and closed out a weekend trip to Macalester College with double-digit victories over the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Carthage College. Two weeks later, the Vikings began a highly-competitive stay at the Claremont Convergence in Southern California with a 9-7 triumph over No. 4 ranked Chapman University. Augie went 2-2 over the trip out west, with all four matchups coming against Top 10 foes.
The Vikings then returned home for five straight inside the Anne Greve Lund Natatorium. McKendree knocked off Augie on March 11 to begin the home stand, but the Vikings responded with three straight wins to open the first CWPA weekend of the season. No. 9 Austin College won the weekend finale over Augustana to push the Vikings’ record to 3-1 in conference heading into the final league outing of the season two weeks later. Facing the Kangaroos for the second time in as many games, Augie knocked off Austin to begin a four-game stint at Carthage, eventually rounding out the final regular season event with a 4-0 record to claim the No. 1 seed in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship hosted by Macalester.
An 18-6 win over Cathage to begin the CWPA Division III Championship in St. Paul, Minn. lifted the Vikings to the semifinals and just one win away from claiming a back-to-back berths to the USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Championship. Facing the host school/No. 10 Scots of Macalester, the Vikings pulled away early, notching five opening-quarter goals to run away with the win. The victory set up a rematch of the 2022 title game between Augustana and Austin.
In the championship, the Vikings were responsible for the game’s first three goals, seeing three straight scores from Casey Barragan to begin the opening quarter. The ‘Roos broke the scoring surge from Augie with a tally around the five-minute mark, but were met with back-to-back goals from Olivia Parry and Carli Udovich to give the Vikings a 5-1 lead after eight minutes of action. After the Augie lead grew to six, Austin netted three in a row to trim the deficit back to three. The Vikings answered with a 3-0 run of their own to close the period, starting with Abbey Ellis‘ second tally of the contest. Maggie Caliendo added a goal to cushion the lead to five before Ocean Akau‘s score with 37 seconds remaining canceled out the three Austin goals and kept the six-goal differential intact. Augustana doubled up the ‘Roos in the final quarter, out-scoring them 4-2 on their way to a 16-8 win.
By virtue of winning the CWPA, the Vikings then welcomed three schools to Rock Island in early May to host the first-ever Division III national championship outside the state of California. The No. 3 seeded Vikings faced off with No. 2 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, with the Athenas taking down Augustana for the second time on the year. Another rematch from 2022 ensued, but Augustana flipped the script, defeating Austin in the third-place game by a score of 10-3 to improve on their 2022 standing. Barragan and Udovich were both named to the USA Water Polo All-Tournament team.
Augustana boasted numerous awards and accolades on an individual level in 2023. A total of five Vikings were named to the All-CWPA teams. Barragan, Charlotte Newport, Lizzie Pelzman and Annie Opal Dickson notched First Team honors, while Akau was recognized on Second Team. Barragan was also named the Player and Rookie of the Year in the conference, while head coach Ryan Pryor was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
In early June, four members of the team were named Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-America selections. Barragan landed First Team recognition, while Newport earned a Second Team nod. Dickson and Pelzman were granted Honorable Mention.
Augustana ended their 2023 campaign ranked No. 5 in the final Division III Top 10 poll.
Release courtesy Augustana College Athletics Communications
