GROVE CITY, Pa. — Goalie Valery Piachonkina (Sr., Castro Valley, Calif./Mission San Jose) made 10 saves – including six in the second and third quarters to allow Division III No. 5-ranked Austin College to acquire an eight goal lead – and the duo of Lexi Wong (Sr., Lantana, Texas/Guyer) and Sophie Oliver (Sr., Houston, Texas/Langham Creek) both scored four times as the Kangaroos claimed an 18-7 victory over Division III No. 9 Augustana College in the title game of the 2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship at Grove City College’ James E. Longnecker Competition Pool.
A repeat CWPA Division III Champion following a 20-6 defeat of Wittenberg University last year at Carthage College to claim the 2021 crown, Austin (13-7, 8-0 CWPA Division III-West) is now 2-1 in league title tilts. The Kangaroos have never missed a CWPA Division III title game since the program’s inaugural season in 2019 as the squad fell to Macalester College in 2019 by an 8-5 score at Connecticut College.
Courtesy their appearances in the title game, Austin and first-year program Augustana (9-12, 6-2 CWPA Division III-West) will not see their seasons come to a close as the duo qualified for the inaugural/2022 USA Water Polo Division III Women’s National Championship against the top two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) institutions on the weekend of Friday-Sunday, May 6-8, at a site to be determined in California. By practice in the past two USA Water Polo Division III Men’s National Championships, the highest finishing program from the host conference (SCIAC/CWPA) serves as site for the event.
The ‘Roos fell behind 1:30 into the first quarter as Ocean Akau (Fr., Pana’ewa, Hawaii/Kamehameha) coasted a shot into the cage to put the Vikings ahead 1-0. The lead – which marked the only instance when Augustana held the advantage in the title game versus Austin – was short lived as Oliver (6:22, man-up) and Wong (5:59) turned the tide to place the Texas squad ahead 2-1.
Alyssa Fricker (Fr., Foothill Ranch, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) fired back for Augustana at 5:47 to tie the score at two-all, Wong put Austin in front again at 4:16 and Olivia Hillhouse (Fr., Alpharetta, Georgia/Johns Creek) posted an equalizer at 2:56 as the teams slugged it out in the early going to a three-all tie.
The ‘Roos acquired the lead once again prior to the conclusion of the first quarter as Lauren Olivier (Jr., Indio, Calif./Citrus College) stroked home a shot at 2:13 to provide Austin a narrow 4-3 lead after eight minutes of back-and-forth action.
Brooke Le (Sr., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) and Sammi Thiele (So., Keller, Texas/Keller) doubled-up Augustana in the opening 65 seconds of the second quarter as the duo lined in shots at 7:26 and 6:55, respectively, to build Austin’s lead to 6-3.
Lauren Dickinson (Fr., La Habra, Calif./Troy) snapped the Kangaroos’ three-goal outburst at 6:22 by burying a marker for the Vikings to close within 6-4, but Wong (6:12), Kalissa Niles (Fr., Richmond, Texas/Foster) (5:15, man-up) and Thiele (4:02) ticked off back-to-back-to-back strikes to expand the differential to five at 9-4.
Augustana chipped a goal off its deficit prior to the halftime horn as Hillhouse arched in a shot at 2:53 to put the Vikings within four at 9-5 entering the break.
However, the Kangaroos came out swinging in the third quarter as Oliver (7:35, 5:52), Le (6:58) and Madison Taylor (Sr., Copper Canyon, Texas/Marcus) (4:20, man-up) put away bids to make it 13-5 prior to Oliver (3:49, man-up) and Alyssa Ross (So., San Jose, Calif./Leland) (3:19) delivering the knockout blows to cap off a 6-0 outburst by Austin to enlarge its lead to 15-5.
Akau (2:10, man-up) and Charlotte Newport (Fr., Baytown, Texas/Ross S. Sterling) (19 seconds, man-up) exploited a pair of exclusions on the ‘Roos to inch the Vikings back to within eight at 15-7 by the close of the third quarter.
Austin dominated the fourth quarter as Wong (6:44), Le (4:21) and Cory McGrath (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Marcus) (3:17) wrapped up the program’s second consecutive league crown.
Wong (four), Oliver (four), Le (three) and Thiele (two) combined to account for 13 of the Kangaroos’ 18 goals, while Niles, McGrath, Taylor, Olivier and Ross each chipped in solo markers as Austin joins Grove City (2010, 2011, 2012), Connecticut College (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and Macalester College (2017, 2018, 2019) as back-to-back CWPA Division III champions.
Augustana – which joins Austin as the lone first-year programs to make the title game – received pairs of goals form Hillhouse and Akau. Fricker, Newport and Dickinson each tacked on solo scores in support of a 14-save effort by netminder Lizzie Pelzman (Fr., Roseville, Calif./Roseville).
The game marked the third meeting of the year between the institutions as Austin previously claimed 12-7 (March 27 at Wittenberg in Springfield, Ohio) and 18-7 (April 10 at Carthage in Kenosha, Wis.) victories.
Following the championship game, the All-Tournament Team was announced with Le (Most Valuable Player), Fricker (Rookie of the Tournament) and Austin head coach Mark Lawrence (Doc Hunkler Coach of the Tournament) being recognized with the tournament’s major awards:
| 2022 CWPA Division III Championship All-Tournament | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Brooke Le (Austin College) |
| Rookie of the Tournament: | Alyssa Fricker (Augustana College) |
| Coach of the Tournament: | Mark Lawrence (Austin College) |
| First Team | |
| Valery Piachonkina (Goalie) | Austin College |
| Brooke Le | Austin College |
| Lexi Wong | Austin College |
| Alyssa Fricker | Augustana College |
| Elaine Miller | Grove City College |
| Eleanor Michaud | Macalester College |
| Grace McLaughlin | Wittenberg University |
| Second Team | |
| Laurel O’Hare (Goalie) | Macalester College |
| Alyssa Sayatovic | Carthage College |
| Gladys Contreras | Carthage College |
| Megan DePrez | Washington & Jefferson College |
| Ryley McClellan | Washington & Jefferson College |
| Maria Sell | Connecticut College |
| Anaiah Lightner | Wittenberg University |
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Division III No. 9 Augustana College (9-12, 6-2 CWPA Division III-West) |
3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 7 |
| Division III No. 5 Austin College (13-7, 8-0 CWPA Division III-West) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | – | 18 |
| Austin Goals: | Lexi Wong (4); Sophie Oliver (4); Brooke Le (3); Sammi Thiele (2); Kalissa Niles; Cory McGrath; Madison Taylor; Lauren Olivier; Alyssa Ross | |||||
| Augustana Goals: | Olivia Hillhouse (2); Ocean Akau (2); Alyssa Fricker; Charlotte Newport; Lauren Dickinson | |||||
| Saves: | Austin – Valery Piachonkina (10) ; Augustana – Lizzie Pelzman (14) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Austin – 7 ; Augustana – 11 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Austin – 4-for-11 ; Augustana – 2-for-7 | |||||
| Sprints: | Austin – 4-for-4 ; Augustana – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | MAM – Augustana (Lauren Dickinson, 5:34 left in 2nd Q); YC – Austin (Head coach Mark Lawrence, 4:48 left in 2nd Q); YC – Augustana (Head coach Ryan Pryor, 3:30 left in 2nd Q); YC/RC – Austin (Head coach Mark Lawrence, 1:47 left in 3rd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Brandon Nicholson; Michael Francis | |||||
Austin College’s Lexi Wong (#14) shoots as Augustana College’s Victoria Guest (#14) defends
Augustana College’s Lizzie Pelzman (#1A)
Austin College’s Sophie Oliver (#6) unloads versus Augustana College
2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship Third Place – Wittenberg University
2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship Second Place – Augustana College
2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion – Austin College
2022 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship Most Valuable Player – Brooke Le (Austin College)
