CLAREMONT, CA. – The No. 24 Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team split day one of the 2023 Claremont Convergence Tournament with a 13-5 loss to No. 10 UC Santa Barbara and ended day one with a 13-11 win against No. 22 Long Island University on Friday night at Haldeman Pool
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens improve to 6-8 overall.
The Sagehens were led by Lulu Gaither and Namlhun Jachung who each netted two goals in the loss while Kaylee Stigar contributed with one.
The Guachos scored first in the Sagehens' first match at Haldeman Pool this season, but the Sagehens hung with their Division I foe early after Jachung tied the game at 1-1 and then Pomona-Pitzer went on to take a 3-1 lead in the first after goals from Stigar and Gaither. UCSB battled back towards the end of the first and evened up the score at 3-3 heading into the second.
Santa Barbara continued its run of goals into the second and took a 6-3 lead holding the Sagehens scoreless for the first six minutes of the second quarter. The Sagehens ended the first half with two goals in the last minute of play from Jachung and Gaither as the Sagehens trailed UCSB by one at 6-5 heading into halftime.
The second half was a different story for the Sagehens' offense after UCSB held the Sagehens scoreless in the third and fourth period. Not a lot of offense by either team in the third after Santa Barbara only scored two goals in the quarter to take an 8-5 lead into the fourth, but five unanswered goals in the fourth allowed UCSB to pull away and hand the Sagehens a loss in game one of their Convergence Tournament.
Pomona-Pitzer then ended the day with a matchup against the No. 22 ranked Sharks of Long Island University.
The Sagehens were led by Brienz Lang who netted five goals in the win. Lulu Gaither also netted a hat-trick against the Sharks with three while Mia Amberger netted two and Abigail Wiesenthal, Kaylee Stigar and Namlhun Jachung had one. Zosia Amberger got the win in goal for Pomona-Pitzer after she stopped 10 shots, including a big penalty save, as well as two steals.
Pomona-Pitzer came out firing early in the first after they built a big lead with four of the first five goals of the game. Lang started her five-goal night with the opening score followed by Jachung, Lang again and then Amberger to take a 4-1 lead after the first.
The Sharks netted the first goal of the second followed by Lang again to make it 5-2, but the Sharks started to mount a comeback and despite scoring three goals in the second for the Sagehens, Long Island put up six in the second to tie the game at 7-7 at halftime.
Long Island came out and took their first lead of the game with the first goal of the third before the Sagehens regrouped with goals from Gaither and Lang to reclaim the lead at 10-8 entering the fourth.
Long Island pulled to within one goal, but the Sagehens continued to answer with Lang and Stigar to keep it out of reach and after a huge defensive stop by the Sagehens and a huge penalty save by Ambegrer, the Sagehens fought off the Sharks for the win.
Up Next: The Sagehens will continue the Claremont Convergence Tournament tomorrow with games against USC at 12:45 p.m. and Iona at 4:30 p.m.
