'Roos Fall to Macalester in CWPA Championship

Photo by Nick Falzerano
Photo by Nick Falzerano

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Austin College women's water polo team battled to the end, but the 'Roos came up short against top-seeded Macalester in the title game of the CWPA Division III Tournament on Sunday afternoon, falling 8-5. The 'Roos finish their inaugural year with a 8-9 overall record.

The 'Roos got on the board first on a goal by Presley Woods, and after Macalester evened things up, Woods struck again to make it 2-1 with 1:35 left in the opening quarter. However, Macalester would tally with 24 seconds left to square things up after one. Macalester then used a 2-0 second quarter to head into halftime leading Austin College by a score of 4-2.

Austin College fought back in the third quarter, getting goals from Kendall Katusak and Lexi Wong to make it 4-4 but Macalester countered with two goals to close the third period leading 6-4. The margin would grow to 7-4 early in the fourth before Shannon Berry scored with 6:14 remaining to pull Austin College to within two, but that's as close as things would get the rest of the way. Macalester would tack on an insurance goal with 4:35 remaining to make it an 8-5 final.

Lexi Wong was named the Rookie of the Tournament and head coach Mark Lawrence was named the Coach of the Tournament, while Wong and Brooke Le were also named first team All-Tournament.