GROVE CITY, Pa. — The Connecticut College women’s water polo team opened Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III-East Region competition by going 2-2 with defeats of Wheaton College, 16-4, and Penn State Behrend, 18-6; on Friday, March 6, along with losses to host Grove City College, 17-13, and Washington & Jefferson College, 15-11, at GCC’s James E. Longnecker Competition Pool on Saturday, March 7.
Conn started the weekend with a dominant 16-4 win over Wheaton.
Wheaton stuck first just 1:18 into the contest, but Conn responded with the final four goals of the opening quarter. Ainsley Cornwall (San Mateo, Calif.), Sarah Nagel (Honolulu, Hawaii), Emma Luna (Wahiawa, Hawaii) and Juno Aselton (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each tallied one goal, as the Camels led 4-1 after eight minutes.
The Camels continued their run in the second quarter, outscoring Wheaton 4-0. Luna notched three goals, while Kendall Halfacre (Aurora, Calif.) added the fourth goal as Connecticut led 8-1 by halftime.
Brooke Brandenburger (Sacramento, Calif.) pushed the lead to 9-2, before the Lyons ended the run with a goal at 3:06. Cornwall and Luna both added another tally as the lead extended to 11-2 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Camels outscored the Lyons 5-2 in the final quarter, with Halfacre scoring twice, while Brandenburger, Maddie Baybeck (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Carly Schneider (Barrington, Ill.) concluded the offense.
Conn continued its strong play in cruising past Penn State-Behrend 18-6.
PSB started with the first two goals, but Connecticut ended the opening quarter with the final four tallies to lead 4-2 after eight minutes, with Luna and Nagel both finding the back of the net twice.
The Camels continued their run, opening the second quarter on a 5-0 spurt to push the lead to 9-2. During the run, Luna added two more goals, while Melia Lorch (Encinitas, Calif.), Anna Taylor (Pleasanton, Calif.), and Nagel all chipped in one. The Lions responded with two of the final three goals of the half, as the Camels led 10-4 at the break.
Both teams scored twice in the third quarter, as the Camels got goals from Brandenburger and Nagel to lead 12-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Conn shut the door in the final frame, outscoring PSB 6-0 to earn an 18-6 win. Luna added three more goals, while Aselton, Cornwall and Lorch added the remaining markers.
Connecticut returned to the pool on Saturday to drop their first conference game of the year to the host Wolverines.
Grove City started quickly to outpace Connecticut, 6-2, in the opening quarter, with the Camels getting solo markers from Brandenburger and Nagel.
Connecticut responded in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 8-7 by halftime. Brandenburger, Cornwall, Halfacre, Nagel and Schneider accounted for their team’s surge in the frame to pull within a single goal of tying Grove City..
The game stayed close in the third quarter with the Wolverines expanding their lead to 12-10 leading into the fourth quarter. Three Camels found the back of the net in the third quarter, as Halfacre, Nagel and Schneider hit the cage.
The Wolverines pulled away over the span of the final eight minutes by outscoring Connecticut, 5-3. The final markers for Conn came from Luna, Nagel and Schneider as the Camels came up short.
In Conn’s final game of the weekend, the Camels battled tough, but came up short against Washington & Jefferson.
W&J opened the scoring two minutes in, but Connecticut answered as Cornwall made it one-all with three and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Presidents pushed the lead to 4-1, but two late goals from Brandenburger and Nagel had the Camels within 4-3 after one quarter of action.
Nagel evened the score 41 seconds into the second quarter, but back-to-back tallies from W&J put the Presidents back in front at 6-4. The teams traded the final five goals of the half, as the Camels got markers from Halfacre and Luna to trail 9-6 at the break.
Jada Keen (Kealakekua, Hawaii) struck early in the third quarter for Connecticut to trim the squad’s deficit to 9-7, but the Presidents ended the quarter with five of the last six goals to push ahead by a 14-8 score at the conclusion of the frame.
The Camels cut their deficit to 14-11 via tallies by Luna and Taylor, but W&J added a late goal to ice a 15-11 win.
Information courtesy Connecticut College Athletics Communications
