Women's Water Polo Splits with Occidental and Whittier

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Austin College women's water polo team took on its first Division III opponents of the year against strong Occidental and Whittier teams, coming up just short in a 14-11 defeat against Oxy before earning a last-second 12-11 win over Whittier. The 'Roos are now 1-5 overall this season.

The 'Roos found themselves trailing 4-0 after the opening quarter against Occidental, it was 5-0 early in the second before Joslyn Dimitri got Austin College on the board at the 6:46 mark. Oxy got its lead up to 7-1, but Ashley Chand tallied with 3:49 left and McKenna Malone added a goal to cut it to 7-3 with just over three minutes left before halftiime. 

Occidental opened the scoring in the third quarter but Bianca Gallegos quickly responded to make it 8-4, but Occidental pushed the margin back to five at 9-4 with 4:52 left in the period. Chand scored again for Austin College, but once again Oxy countered to maintain their five-goal lead. Dimitri added a tallly before the Tigers responded with two tallies to make it 12-6. Camila Diarte found the back of the cage to make it 12-7, and Dimitri scored twice more in the quarter to pull the 'Roos to within three goals at 12-9 as they went into the fourth. Occidental scored twice in the first four minutes of the quarter to push it to a 14-9 game, and the 'Roo comeback bid fell short despite goals from Gallegos and Dimitri.

Austin College once again found themselvs trailing early against Whittier, as the Poets jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the first quarter, but the 'Roos answered with a 5-2 quarter of their own to make it a 7-7 game at halftime. Chand scored both of Austin College's first quarter goals, while Malone, Gallegos, and Sophia King each scored once and Dimitri continued her torrid day with a pair of goals in the second.

Lexy Hulse scored the lone goal of the third quarter for Austin College, as the Poets took a 10-8 lead into the final frame. Gallegos and Chand each found the back of the cage to even things up, and after Whittier took the lead with 4:57 on the clock, Chand scored again to keep the 'Roos level at 11-11. That remained the score until the final seconds of the game, when Mikhaela Torres ripped a shot into the twine with five seconds remaining to lift the 'Roos to the victory.