ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — 2023 and 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion Augustana Collge will have a chance to join Grove City College (2010, 2011, 2012), Connecticut College (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), and Macalester College (2017, 2018, 2019) as the Division III No. 10-ranked/CWPA Division III regular season No. 4 seed Vikings upset 2021 and 2022 CWPA Division III Champion/CWPA Division III regular season champion/Division III No. 6 Austin College, 10-5, at home in the Anne Greve Lund Natatorium to reach the 2025 CWPA Division III Championship title game.
It marks the fourth time in four years the Vikings will compete for the CWPA Division III title – but the first time Augustana will not face Austin with the league championship at stake. In 2022 at Grove City College, Austin (12-8, 8-0 CWPA Division III) topped Augustana (18-7 W) to repeat as league champions. Two years ago at Macalester, Augustana claimed a 16-8 victory versus Austin in the title tilt. Last year at Connecticut, the Vikings once again felled the Kangaroos by a 14-10 score.
Augustana will face another team which has prior experience in the CWPA Division III title game as six-time runner-up (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)/Division III No. 9 Washington & Jefferson College – which topped Division III No. 8 Macalester by a 9-6 score in the semifinal immediately before the Augustana-Austin clash – will seek to exploit the Vikings to garner the institution’s inaugural CWPA Division III crown in women’s water polo.
Augustana – which earns the team’s third consecutive berth to the USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Championship courtesy qualifying for the CWPA Division III title game – trailed only once in the contest as Bianca Gallegos (Jr., Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano) broke the ice with a man-up score to stake the ‘Roos to a 1-0 lead 25 seconds into the first quarter (7:35).
The lead disappeared quickly as Alayna Ickert (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) responded 28 seconds later (7:07) to even the damage and commence Augustana’s march through Austin and back to the CWPA Division III Championship title tilt.
Ocean Akau (Sr., Pana’ewa, Hawaii/Kamehameha) (4:51) and Charlotte Newport (Sr., Baytown, Texas/Ross S. Sterling) (3:05) continued a scoring string by Augustana to build the Vikings a 3-1 lead before Gallegos struck again with one second remaining in the first quarter to inch the ‘Roos to within one at 3-2.
Anita Rodgers (So., Salt Lake City, Utah/Kearns) got the goal back at 4:35 in the second quarter courtesy a five-meter penalty shot, but Gallegos completed a hat-trick with her third goal with 4:18 until halftime to once again close the gap between the teams to a solo marker at 4-3.
Annie Opal Dickson (Sr., Imperial Beach, Calif./Mar Vista) and Jersey Merrick (Jr., Chicago, Ill./Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences) milked out tallies at 3:09 and 1:02, respectively, before the conclusion of the first half as Augustana doubled-up Austin, 6-3, by the break.
Following a quiet third quarter in which neither team deposited a shot into the cage, the fourth quarter saw the two programs combine for six goals down the stretch.
Dickson (6:13) started the concluding scoring run by building Augustana’s lead to 7-3 with 6:13 remaining prior to Lexy Hulse (Fr., Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) delivering a counterpoint for Austin at 5:58 to make it a 7-4 contest.
Back-to-back-to-back goals by Dickson (3:30), Waiahuli Akau (So., Pana’ewa, Hawaii/Kamehameha) (2:06) and Newport (1:04) spelled disaster for the ‘Roos comeback hopes as Augustana pushed ahead 10-4 with 64 seconds left in regulation.
Gallegos chipped in her fourth and Austin’s final goal with 46 seconds to shrink the final deficit down to five scores at 10-5.
For Austin – which will take on Macalester at Noon Central on Sunday, April 13, for Third Place after making the CWPA Division III title game in the team’s first varsity seasons (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024) – Gallegos (four goals), Hulse (one goal), Morgan Evans (So., Houston, Texas/Langham Creek) (one assist) and Ashley Chand (Sr., Southlake, Texas/Southlake) (one assist) provided the offense in support of a 10 save effort by goalkeeper Ashley Easley (So., San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis).
Augustana – which has made the CWPA Division III title game in each year of the program’s varsity history (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) – received offensive output from Dickson (three goals-one assist), Newport (two goals-two assists), Ocean Akau (one goal-two assists), Waiahuli Akau (one goal), Rodgers (one goal), Ickert (one goal), Merrick (one goal) and Emese Blezien (Fr., Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) (two assists) to support Player of the Game/goalkeeper Lizzie Pelzman (Sr., Roseville, Calif./Roseville) who posted 17 saves.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Division III No. 6 Austin College (12-8, 8-0 CWPA Division III) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | – | 5 |
| Division III No. 10 Augustana College (14-8, 5-3 CWPA Division III) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | – | 10 |
| Augustana Goals: | Annie Opal Dickson (3); Charlotte Newport (2), Ocean Akau; Waiahuli Akau; Jersey Merrick; Anita Rodgers; Alayna Ickert | |||||
| Austin Goals: | Bianca Gallegos (4); Lexy Hulse | |||||
| Saves: | Augustana – Lizzie Pelzman (17) ; Austin – Ashley Easley (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Augustana – 10 ; Austin – 12 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Augustana – 2-for-12 ; Austin – 1-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | Augustana – 1-for-4 (3rd); Austin – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | YC – Austin (Head coach Mark Lawrence, 4:35 left in 2nd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Steve Redding; Aleks Mitrevski | |||||
Augustana College’s Alayna Ickert (#22) & Austin College’s Ashley Chand (#5)
Austin College’s Ashley Easley (#1B) prepares for a shot by Augustana College’s Ocean Akau (#5)
Augustana College’s Lizzie Pelzman (#1)
