CLAREMONT, Calif. — Division III No. 5-ranked/Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion Macalester College used a 6-1 scoring outburst in the fourth quarter to rally back for a 7-6 defeat of Division III No. 7/CWPA Divsision III Championship runner-up Carthage College in the 2026 USA Water Polo Division III Women’s Collegiate Water Polo National Championship Third Place game hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges’ at Matt M. Axelrood Pool.
Macalester concludes the season at 16-6, while Carthage wraps-up 2026 with an 8-17 mark.
The Third Place game marked the fourth meeting of Carthage and Macalester in 2026 over the span of four states as the Scots defeated the Firebirds on February 14 (8-6 W at Macalester in St. Paul, Minn.) and March 14 (8-7 W OT at Carthage in Kenosha, Wisc.) during the regular season prior to picking up a 14-9 victory in the CWPA Division III Championship title game on April 12 at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.
Carthage dominated the contest for the first three quarters of action prior to Macalester finding its groove in the fourth quarter to snuff off the Firebirds.
Kamille Graham (Jr., Wes Jordan, Utah/Kearns) put Carthage in front with 6:25 left in the first quarter as she cashed in a pass from Yamila Areizaga (Sr, Chicago, Ill./Lincoln Park) for a man-up marker. Mak Werner (So., Tinley Park, Ill/Tinley Park) padded the lead to 2-0 with another power-play conversion at 4:47 as the teams exited the opening eight minutes of action with the Firebirds holding the lead.
Following a back-and-forth second quarter in which neither team could put away a shot, Macalester broke through the defense for its opening salvo with 1:51 to go until halftime as Alana Nadolski (Sr., Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) rifled home a six-on-five opportunity courtesy an assist from Kendall Strauss (Sr., Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock) to inch the Scots within 2-1 heading into the break.
Following another run in which neither team could add to its lead or subtract from its deficit, Carthage expanded its margin as Graham found Kiera Crawley (So., Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) for a goal with 3:21 remaining on the third quarter clock. Graham dented the twine at 2:30 off a feed from Aubrey Korzyniewski (So., Grayslake, Ill./Warren Township) and Brenna Carstens (Sr., Coronado, Calif./Coronado) lined in a helper from Graham on a six-on-five chance with 43 seconds left on the clock as Carthage headed into the fourth quarter with a comfortable 5-1 spread.
Macalester, however, was not only beginning to fight as Nadolski delivered a response 59 seconds into the fourth quarter off an assist by Hannah Fasi (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii/Iolani School) – who drew an exclusion with 7:03 on the clock – to close the gap to 5-2 with 7:01 remaining in regulation.
Fasi factored again at 6:04 as she found Anna Gaisser (So., Seattle, Wash./Ingraham) for a natural strike to shave the Scots’ deficit down to 5-3.
Gaisser delivered once more at 5:18 by putting away a counter goal to make it 5-4 prior to Jess Palmer-Sammons (Sr., Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) drawing and nailing a penalty shot at 4:52 to balance the scoreboard at five-all.
The tables turned with 2:56 left on the fourth quarter clock as Gaisser hit Nadolski to give Macalester its first lead at 6-5. Palmer-Sammons delivered the knockout blow at 2:14 as she dished a pass off to Katie Martin (Fr., Bryn Athyn, Pa./Germantown Academy) who beat Carthage goalkeeper Edie Hamilton (So., Riverside, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) to expand the Scots’ lead to 7-5.
Areizaga attempted to rally her team back into the contest as she punched in a counter-strike with 1:05 on the clock off an assist from Graham to put Carthage within a goal of tying the game and forcing overtime
However, both defenses stiffened down the stretch to prevent any further scoring tries until an attempt by Graham was stopped by Macalester goalkeeper Jayden Kratt (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) in the closing seconds to permit the Scots to escape with a one-goal victory.
For Carthage, Graham (two goals-three assists-four field blocks) led the way with Areizaga (one goal-one assist), Carstens (one goal), Werner (one goal), Crawley (one goal) and Korzyniewski (one assist) also factoring on offense. Hamilton took the loss with 12 saves.
Player of the Game Nadolski scored three times to join with Gaisser (two goals-one assist-one field block), Martin (one goal), Palmer-Sammons (one goal-one assist), Fasi (two assists) and Strauss (one assist) in accounting for Macalester’s offense. Kratt made 10 saves to earn the victory.
