ST. PAUL, Minn. — Cory McGrath (Jr., Flower Mound, Texas/Marcus) of defending Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion/Division III No. 9-ranked Austin College scored a game-high eight goals to notch Player of the Game honors as the Kangaroos bounced to a 21-4 win against Grove City College in the quarterfinals of the 2023 CWPA Division III Championship hosted at Macalester College’s Riley Pool.
The 2021 and 2022 CWPA Division III Champion Kangaroos (8-9, 7-1 CWPA Division III-West) – which finished second in the CWPA West Division regular season standings – never trailed versus Grove City (4-15, 4-4 CWPA Division III-East Region) as the Austin put a 6-0 lead in its pouch by the 2:47 mark of the second quarter.
The Kangaroos will next be in action at 2:00 p.m. Central on Saturday, April 22, against the winner of a quarterfinal pitting CWPA Division III-East Region Champion Connecticut College and Wittenberg University of the CWPA-West Division. Austin claimed 10-2 (March 18 at Augustana College) and 9-8 (April 2 at Carthage College) defeats of Wittenberg during the regular season and did not face Connecticut.
Grove City falls into the consolation side of the bracket and will face fellow CWPA Division III-East Region institution Penn State Behrend. The Wolverines picked up 19-11 (March 18 at Penn State Behrend) and 17-14 (April 2 at Utica University) during the CWPA Division III-East Region regular season slate.
Seeking to start its path through the CWPA Division III Championship tournament to defend its league crownw and punch another ticket to the USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Championship, the ‘Roos buried the Wolverines under the weight of an early offensive onslaught.
Leading 5-0 by the conclusion of the first quarter and 9-1 entering halftime, Austin put any doubts about the contest’s eventual outcome to rest in short order during the third quarter by outscoring Grove City 8-0 to acquire a 17-1 spread.
The teams exchanged scoring blows over the eight-minute span of the fourth quarter as Austin pulled ahead 20-1 with 5:45 prior to the Wolverines slashing its final margin of defeat back to 21-4.
For three-time (2010, 2011, 2012) CWPA Division III Champion Grove City, Reese Trauger (Sr., Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) connected on a pair of tallies with Kamryn Kerr (So., East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) and Claire Lochstet (Jr., Ambler, Pa./Upper Dublin) swishing solo strikes. Lea Steen (Fr., Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) made five saves as the Wolverines can now finish no higher than Fifth Place in the final championship standings.
Historically, Grove City has previously placed First (2010, 2011, 2012), Second (2013), Third (2021), Fourth (2015), Fifth (2014, 2016, 2019, 2022) and Sixth (2017, 2018) in the history of the CWPA Division III Championship.
McGrath (eight), Maddie Jacks (Sr., Richmond, Texas/Foster) (four), Aubrey Pasky (Sr., Paso Robles, Calif./Paso Robles) (two) and Ashley Chand (So., Southlake, Texas/Southlake) (two) notched multi-goal games for Austin. Kalissa Niles (So., Richmond, Texas/Foster), Alyssa Ross (Jr., San Jose, Calif./Leland), McKenna Malone (Fr., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound), Emma Boyce (So., Simi Valley, Calif./Royal) and Lauren Olivier (Sr., Indio, Calif./Citrus College) added solo markers in support of a combined 13 save effort by goalies Erin McCormack (Jr., Orlando, Fla./Winter Park) and Emily Engberson (Jr., Copper Canyon, Texas/Marcus).
Led by Mark Lawrence, the ‘Roos have never missed a CWPA Division III Championship game in program history. In 2019, the squad downed Penn State Behrend (19-7 W) and Carthage College (7-2 W) before falling to Macalester (8-5 L) in the title game at Connecticut. Following the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, the ‘Roos rolled past host Carthage (17-7 W) before upending Wittenberg University (20-6 W) for the 2021 crown. Last year at Grove City, the team topped Carthage (20-1 W) and Macalester (13-4 W) prior to turning back Augustana College (18-7 W) to repeat as champions.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Grove City College |
0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | – | 4 |
| Division III No. 9 Austin College | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | – | 21 |
| Austin Goals: | Cory McGrath (8); Maddie Jacks (4); Aubrey Pasky (2); Ashley Chand (2); Kalissa Niles; Alyssa Ross; McKenna Malone; Emma Boyce; Lauren Olivier | |||||
| Grove City Goals: | Reese Trauger (2); Claire Lochstet; Kamryn Kerr | |||||
| Saves: | Austin – Erin McCormack (12, 24 minutes), Emily Engberson (1, 8 minutes) ; Grove City – Lea Steen (5) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Austin – 8 ; Grove City – 3 |
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| Advantage Opportunities: | Austin – 1-for-3 ; Grove City – 1-for-8 |
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| Sprints: | Austin – 0-for-4 ; Grove City – 4-for-4 |
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| Cards/Misconducts: | Austin – None ; Grove City – None |
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| Officials: | Tiffany Urbanski; Victor Rarau | |||||
Austin College’s Kylee Noble (#12) tries to get a pass over Grove City College’s Claire Lochstet (#15)
Grove City College’s Emory Shepson (#7) aims to lob a shot down the tank as Austin College’s Aubrey Pasky (#13) defends
Grove City College’s Reese Trauger (#12) lines up a shot as Austin College’s Kylee Noble (#12) attempts to defend
