ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Division III No. 10-ranked/2023 & 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion Augustana College opened defense of its reign at the league’s 2025 Division III Championship tournament by building a 9-0 halftime lead and never flinching in roaring against the Lions of Penn State Behrend, 17-4, at home in the Anne Greve Lund Natatorium.
A first-time CWPA Division III Championship host, the Vikings (13-8, 5-3 CWPA Division III) earn a 2:30 p.m. Central date with Division III No. 6/CWPA Division III regular season champion/2021 and 2022 CWPA Division III Champion Austin College on Saturday, April 12, with a spot in the weekend tournament’s title game on the line. The match-up will be a familiar one for both teams as Austin and Augustana clashed for the CWPA Division III crown in 2022 (18-7 Austin win at Grove City College), 2023 (16-8 Augustana win at Macalester College) and 2024 (14-10 Augustana win at Connecticut College). This year, the two teams battled to a near-stalemate as Austin picked up a 14-13 win on March 16 at home in Sherman, Texas.
Penn State Behrend (4-13, 4-4 CWPA Division III) – which will next be in action at 11:30 a.m. Central on Saturday, April 12, against Wheaton College – fell behind early against Augustana and was unable to catch up as the Vikings exacted a degree of ragnarok in rolling to a 13-score win.
Following a five-meter conversion by Charlotte Newport (Sr., Baytown, Texas/Ross S. Sterling) 16 seconds into the first quarter to put Augustana in front to stay, the Vikings plundered the Penn State cage for an additional four goals in the contest’s opening eight minutes as Mary King (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif./California Baptist) (7:03), Ocean Akau (Sr., Pana’ewa, Hawaii/Kamehameha) (6:10), Newport (2:38) and Emma Blezien (Fr., Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) (eight seconds, man-up) dented the twine for a 5-0 margin.
The lead continued to grow in the second quarter as Mary King (5:22), Kiera Luhrs (Fr., Ypsilanti, Mich./Washtenaw International) (3:46), Cindy King (Fr., Bakersfield, Calif./Garces Memorial) (3:00) and Maggie Caliendo (Sr., Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) (54 seconds) racked up four markers for the Vikings to stake Augustana to a 9-0 lead heading into intermission.
Halftime brought an end to the day for Vikings’ starting netminder Susan Palmentera-Reid (So., Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) who took a seat on the bench after blanking the Lions with eight saves in the first half.
Waiahuli Akau (So., Pana’ewa, Hawaii/Kamehameha) pushed the lead into double-digits at 10-0 with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter, but Penn State Behrend’s Makenzie Rickerd (So., Rockford, Mich./Rockford) broke up the shutout by beating new Vikings’ goalkeeper Lizzie Pelzman (Sr., Roseville, Calif./Roseville) with 4:28 left in the frame to put the Lions within nine at 10-1. Ocean Akau (4:05) and Rickerd (2:43) traded goals prior to Sophie Arceneaux (Sr., Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette Senior) slipping in another insurance tally for the defending league champions to make it a 12-2 contest through 24 minutes of action.
The fourth quarter saw the Vikings continue to pile on offense as Abbey Ellis (Sr., Fresno, Calif./Sagner) (7:38), Hailey Sherman (So., Jension, Mich./Jenison) (5:50), Lauren Dickinson (Sr., La Habra, Calif./Troy) (3:07), Jillian Hagmann (Sr., San Jose, Calif./Santa Teresa) (55 seconds, man-up) and Carli Udovich (Jr., Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) (17 seconds) outscored the duo of Darragh Martin (Jr., Green Lane, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) (7:14) and Hope Edwards (Fr., Bloomfield, Mich./Seaholm) (3:25, man-up) in the final eight minutes.
Penn State Behrend – which fell to Augustana by a 10-3 score on March 15 in Sherman, Texas, during the regular season – received a pair of goals by Rickerd, solo strikes from Edwards and Martin along with six saves by goalkeeper Monica Villasenor (So., San Gabriel, Calif./Pasadena) to drop into the consolation side of the championship bracket.
Newport (two goals-one assist), Mary King (two goals-one assist), Ocean Akau (two goals), Waiahuli Akau (one goal-two assists), Hagmann (one goal-one assist), Cindy King (one goal-one assist), Ellis (one goal), Caliendo (one goal), Arceneaux (one goal), Sherman (one goal), Dickinson (one goal), Luhrs (one goal), Blezien (one goal), Udovich (one goal), Jorja Neumann (Fr., Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) (one assist), Pelzman (one assist), Palmentera-Reid (one assist), Annie Opal Dickson (Sr., Imperial Beach, Calif./Mar Vista) (one assist), Olivia Parry (Jr., Wilsonville, Ore./Wilsonville) (one assist) and Alayna Ickert (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) (one assist) each accounted for one point or better in the victory.
Pelzman wrapped up the game guarding the pipes allowing four goals with nine saves in the second half as the Vikings secured their fourth Top Four finish in as many years at the CWPA Division III Championship following prior runner-up (2022) and championship (2023, 2024) marks.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Penn State Behrend (4-13, 4-4 CWPA Division III) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 |
| Division III No. 19 Augustana College (13-8, 5-3 CWPA Division III) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | – | 17 |
| Augustana Goals: | Charlotte Newport (2); Mary King (2); Ocean Akau (2); Waiahuli Akau; Sophie Arceneaux; Jillian Hagmann; Abbey Ellis; Maggie Caliendo; Hailey Sherman; Lauren Dickinson; Kiera Luhrs; Emma Blezien; Carli Udovich; Cindy King | |||||
| Penn State Behrend Goals: | Makenzie Rickerd (2); Hope Edwards; Darragh Martin | |||||
| Saves: | Augustana – Susan Palmentera-Reid (8 saves, 0 goals allowed, 16 minutes), Lizzie Pelzman (9 saves, 4 goals allowed, 16 minutes) ; Penn State Behrend – Monica Villasenor (6) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Augustana – 1 ; Penn State Behrend -3 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Augustana – 3-for-3 ; Penn State Behrend – 1-for-1 | |||||
| Sprints: | Augustana – 4-for-4 ; Penn State Behrend -0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Aleks Mitrevski; Steve Redding | |||||
Augustana College’s Charlotte Newport (#4) slips by Penn State Behrend’s Hope Edwards (#4)
Augustana College’s Susan Palmentera-Reid (#1A)
Augustana College’s Charlotte Newport (#4) eludes Penn State Behrend’s Darragh Martin (#20)
