ERIE, Pa. — The Austin College women’s water polo team downed host Penn State Behrend, 17-4, in Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III action before knocking off Division II opponent Gannon University, 11-10, of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) to commence a weekend trip to Pennsylvania.
The victory over Gannon marks the inaugural time in program history at the Kangaroos have beaten a Division II program.
Madison Taylor scored four times to lead Austin College against PSU-Behrend, as the ‘Roos jumped out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back, eventually pushing the margin to 12-3 at halftime. Taylor added three assists, while Sophie Oliver scored three times and assisted on three more goals for the ‘Roos. Lexi Wong and Cory McGrath each found the back of the cage twice for Austin College, which also got seven saves from Valery Piachonkina.
Wong came up big against Gannon with four goals to lead the ‘Roos to victory, and Oliver found the net two more times. The ‘Roos found themselves trailing 4-1 after the opening quarter before cutting the margin to 7-5 at halftime, and a big third quarter pulled Austin College even at 9-9 heading into the fourth quarter. Brooke Le scored to give Austin College a 10-9 lead, and after Gannon evened things up, Le tallied again with 2:15 remaining and that would prove to be the decisive goal. Piachonkina was huge in goal for Austin College once again, coming up with 17 saves in the win.
Release courtesy Austin College Athletics Communications
