Women’s Water Polo falls to CMS in SCIAC opener

Women’s Water Polo falls to CMS in SCIAC opener

LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne women's water polo team played well defensively, but could not establish an offensive rhythm as it fell 11-3 to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday at La Verne Aquatics Center.

Jacqueline Rojas, Catie Tuning and Emily Randall each got on the score sheet for the Leopards. Goalie Hailey Westwood made nine saves.

Brittany Arneson and Jessica Gaffney each scored three goals to pace Athenas while Allison Hu turned away eight shots in net.

The biggest factor in the game was La Verne's inability to convert on man-up chances. The Leopards drew nine ejections but managed to score on just one of them.

Both teams came out with high defensive intensity as they combined for three goals in the first quarter, but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scored six unanswered goals into late third quarter to grab control. Emily Randall stopped the bleeding with lob shot on a power play, but that was as close as the Leopards would get as the Athenas scored four more in the fourth quarter.

Rojas netted La Verne final goal at the 1:59 mark in the fourth.

La Verne falls to 2-9 overall and opens SCIAC play 0-1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps improves to 4-13 and 1-0.

La Verne returns to action on Tuesday at Caltech. First sprint is at 4 p.m.

From head coach William Rodriguez:

On difficulty establishing an offensive rhythm: "[The biggest reason was] our power play opportunities. We drew nine kickouts but scored only one. If we had been more efficient, the game would have been a lot closer. Man-up definitely hurt us the most."

On positives to take away from the game: "Our frontcourt defense when we were playing man-to-man was excellent and our opponents have been converting very little in those situations."