NORTON, Mass. — Player of the Game Mak Werner (So., Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) and Grace Steinberg (Sr., Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) both notched hat-tricks with three goals to account for half of Carthage College’s scoring to clip Austin College, 12-10, in the opening round of the 2026 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship hosted at Wheaton College’s Balfour Natatorium.
The victory places Carthage (7-14, 5-3 CWPA Division III regular season) into a 2:30 p.m. Eastern semifinal on Saturday, April 11, against the victor of a game matching Division III No. 5/three-time (2025, 2024, 2023) CWPA Division III Champion/CWPA Division III regular season champion Augustana College and Penn State Behrend. Austin (7-9, 4-4 CWPA Division III regular season) will square-off with the host Lyons of Wheaton at 11:30 a.m. with eyes on clashing against Penn State Behrend for a shot at the Fifth Place game.
Carthage – which knocked off two-time (2022, 2021) CWPA Division III Champion Austin by a 10-8 score in their regular season conference meeting – either trailed or was level with the Kangaroos for all but seven minutes of the game.
The Firebirds burned Austin within the first 62 seconds of competition as Kamille Graham (Jr., West Jordan, Utah/Kearns) arched in an ice-breaker with 6:58 left in the first quarter to put Carthage ahead 1-0. The lead lasted for 58 seconds until Bianca Gallegos (Sr., Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano) knotted the contest at one-all (6:00) prior to pushing Austin ahead 2-1 by converting a man-up chance (5:25). She struck again in the final minute of the opening frame as the senior wrapped up the first quarter with one of every kind of goal by lining in a penalty shot with 55 ticks on the clock to make it 3-1 in favor of the Texas squad.
Morrigan Bushroe-Stumpf (So., Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) kept the ‘Roos from hopping out to an insurmountable lead by hammering home a ball at the 5:02 mark of the second quarter to shrink Carthage’s deficit to 3-2.
The teams exchanged goals over the remainder of the second quarter as Austin’s Joslyn Dimitri (Jr., Coeur d’Alene, Idaho/Couer d’Alene) made it 4-2, Graham (4:19, penalty shot) shrank the gap to 4-3, Gallegos (3:17) expanded the spread to 5-3, Werner (2:08) wove through the defense for a strike to close within 5-4 and Caroline Armstrong (Jr., Houston, Texas/Cy-Fair) (48 seconds) brought the curtain down on the first half to allow the ‘Roos to punch their way to a 6-4 halftime margin.
Austin appeared primed to extinguish any hopes of a Carthage victory in the first minute of the third quarter as McKenna Malone (Sr., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) broke loose to fire in another ‘Roos marker for a 7-4 spread.
Steinberg answered at 5:41 to keep Carthage in the contest, but Gallegos enlarged her team’s lead to 8-5 with 3:01 on the third quarter clock.
Needing a surge to get back into the contest, Werner delivered by lining in a penalty shot (2:47) and notching a natural netfinder (1:50) prior to Steinberg balancing the scoreboard at eight-all by cashing in a man-up opportunity with 1:09 remaining in the frame.
Austin, however, refused to go silently as Clara Koenig (So., Cypress, Texas/Bridgeland) torqued in a tally with 45 seconds on the clock to give the ‘Roos a 9-8 lead heading into the decisive fourth quarter of action.
Brenna Carstens (Sr., Coronado, Calif./Coronado) pulled Carthage even at nine-all with 6:40 to play in the fourth quarter prior to Steinberg putting Carthage ahead at 10-9 with 5:20 until the final horn. It marked the first time the Firebirds held a lead in the contest since Gallegos evened the damage at one-all with six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Koenig retied the game at 10-all with 3:18 and an ensuing 30+ minute delay due to a clock/horn malfunction left the teams to stew over the potential of overtime.
Kiera Crawley (So., Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) had other ideas, however, as she lined in a penalty shot with 3:01 remaining on the clock for what proved to be the game-winning goal. Carstens iced the victory by netting her squad’s 12th marker with 1:53 to play as the Firebirds held on for a 12-10 win.
For Carthage, Werner (three), Steinberg (three), Carstens (two) and Graham (two) combined for 10 of their team’s 12 goals with solo tallies by Crawley and Bushroe-Stumpf making the difference in the contest’s outcome. Goalkeeper Edie Hamilton (So., Riverside, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) turned aside 10 scoring chances to earn the win in cage.
Across the tank, Gallegos (five), Koenig (two), Dimitri, Armstrong and Malone combined for Austin’s 10 goals. Ashley Easley (Jr., San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis) made six saves in taking the loss.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Austin College (7-9) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | 10 |
| Carthage College (7-14) | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | – | 12 |
| Carthage Goals: | Mak Werner (3); Grace Steinberg (3); Brenna Carstens (2); Kamille Graham (2); Kiera Crawley; Morrigan Bushroe-Stumpf | |||||
| Austin Goals: | Bianca Gallegos (5); Clara Koenig (2); Joslyn Dimitri; Caroline Armstrong; McKenna Malone | |||||
| Saves: | Carthage – Edie Hamilton (10) ; Austin – Ashley Easley (6) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Carthage – 11 ; Austin – 15 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Carthage – 5-for-15 ; Austin – 2-for-11 | |||||
| Sprints: | Carthage – 0-for-4; Austin – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Corey Luigard; Mark Veszi | |||||
Carthage College’s Yamila Areizaga (#6) & Austin College’s Joslyn Dimitri (#4)
Austin College’s Camila Diarte (#10) attempts to stop Carthage College’s Grace Steinberg (#2)
Carthage College’s Edie Hamilton (#1A)
Carthage College’s Yamila Areizaga (#6) tries to pry the ball loose from Austin College’s Camila Diarte (#10)
