ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryley McClellan (Sr., Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) of Washington & Jefferson College scored a man-up goal with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter for the difference as the Presidents overcame Carthage College, 11-10, to earn a spot in the 2023 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship Fifth Place game.
Competing at Macalester College’s Riley Pool in the Leonard Center, the Presidents (11-9, 7-1 CWPA Division III-West Region) overcame a 10-7 deficit at the conclusion of the third quarter to outscore the Firebirds (5-16, 1-7 CWPA Division III-West Region) by a 4-0 count in rallying for victory.
W&J – which previously finished Second (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Third (2013), Fourth (2010, 2018), Sixth (2022) and 10th (2019) at prior CWPA Division III Championship – jumped on the scoreboard first as Sydney Neumann (So., Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) stroked in a shot with 6:30 left in the first quarter.
Carthage – which previously collected Second (2010), Third (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), Fourth (2013, 2019, 2021), Fifth (2011, 2012) and Seventh (2022) Place marks at the CWPA Division III Championship – turned the tables on W&J over the remainder of the opening frame as Victoria Hodges (Jr., Oxford, Mich./Lake Orion) (4:10, 18 seconds ) and Brenna Carstens (Fr., Coronado, Calif./Coronado) (2:55, 2:23) combined to account for a 4-0 outburst.
Trailing 4-1 after eight minutes, the Presidents erased its deficit in the second quarter as Neumann (7:01, 3:16, 2:29) and Megan DePrez (Sr., Claremont, Calif./Claremont) (6:20) combined to account for a 4-0 surge to push Washington & Jefferson ahead 5-4. However, Kaylin Machuca (Fr., Corona, Calif./Santiago) torqued in a shot with 1:48 left until halftime to square the squads at five-all through 16 minutes of action.
Carthage regained the lead midway through the third quarter as Alyssa Sayatovic (Jr., Berwyn, Ill./Fenwick) dented the twine with man-up (4:09) and even-strength (3:23) shots to hand the Firebirds a 7-5 margin.
McClellan chipped W&J’s deficit down to one at 7-6 with 2:00 on the clock, but back-to-back successful heaves by Hodges (1:52) and Morrigan Bushroe-Stumpf (Fr., Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) (1:34) inflated Carthage’s lead to 9-6.
DePrez attempted to ignite a Washington & Jefferson comeback by finding the twine at 1:14 to shave the Firebirds’ scoreboard advantage to 9-7, but Machuca returned the spread to three (10-7) with 11 ticks left on the third quarter clock.
Down by three goals with time not on its side, W&J went to work to pull out a come from behind victory.
McClellan started the rally 44 seconds into the fourth quarter with a score at the 7:16 mark prior to DePrez (5:42, man-up) and Neumann (2:12) following suit to balance the scoreboard at 10-all and raise the prospect of either a last second victory or overtime.
Both teams struggled to solve their opponent’s defense again until Carstens was excluded with 16 seconds left to provide the Presidents one final chance at netting the game-winner.
McClellan didn’t miss her chance as she buried the opportunity into the right side of the cage with four seconds left to complete a hat-trick and net the difference in the 11-10 win.
For Carthage, Hodges (three), Machuca (two), Carstens (two) and Sayatovic (two) notched multi-goal games with Bushroe-Stumpf chipping in a solo marker. Goalkeeper Emma Selman (Fr., Naperville, Ill./Naperville) stopped 11 shots.
Neumann – who garnered Player of the Game honors for posting a game-high five goals – was joined in the scoring column for Washington & Jefferson by DePrez and McClellan as the pair also registered three goals for hat-tricks. Netminder Alliey Cunningham (So., Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) made nine saves to collect the victory.
Due to the result, Washington & Jefferson advances into the tournament’s Fifth Place game at 10:30 a.m. Central on Sunday, April 23, against Wittenberg University. It will mark the third meeting of the year between the two programs as W&J dropped a 12-8 game on March 4 at Wittenberg and picked up an 11-10 win on March 11 at home in Henry Memorial Natatorium,
Carthage will wrap-up the weekend at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 23, in the Seventh Place game versus Grove City College. The game will mark the first meeting of the year between the Wolverines and the Firebirds.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Carthage College |
4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | – | 10 |
| Washington & Jefferson College | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | – | 11 |
| W&J Goals: | Sydney Neumann (5); Megan DePrez (3); Ryley McClellan (3) | |||||
| Carthage Goals: | Victoria Hodges (3); Kaylin Machuca (2); Brenna Carstens (2); Alyssa Sayatovic (2); Morrigan Bushroe-Stumpf | |||||
| Saves: | W&J – Alliey Cunningham (9) ; Carthage – Emma Selman (11) | |||||
| Exclusions: | W&J – 4 ; Carthage – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | W&J – 2-for-6 ; Carthage – 1-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | W&J – 0-for-4 ; Carthage – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | W&J – None ; Carthage – None | |||||
| Officials: | Joe Peila; Aleks Mitrevski | |||||
Carthage College’s Sarah Lowery (#16) and Washington & Jefferson College’s Katie McKiernann (#7) race for the ball
Washington & Jefferson College’s Ryley McClellan (#11)
