First win over San Bernardino highlights weekend split in Claremont
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Chapman University women's water polo team dropped a pair of matches to Nos.1 and 3 ranked Occidental College and University of Redlands but split the weekend at the Claremont Convergence tournament hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. The No. 6-ranked Panthers defeated Division II Cal State San Bernardino 12-10 on Friday for the first time in school history and defeated Virginia Military Institute on Saturday.
Chapman (7-6) opened the weekend tournament with a big win against Division II CSUSB, leading from start to finish. Sophomore driver Julie Case got the Panthers off on the right foot with three first period goals and Chapman built its biggest lead of the game with an 8-3 advantage at halftime. Junior utility Sam Martin led the Panthers with four goals.
Martin finished with 11 goals in the four games, including five against VMI in Chapman's 22-8 win on Saturday. Freshman utility Riley Ford led the Panthers with 12 goals in the tournament including three goals in Chapman's 12-7 loss to No. 3 Redlands.
Against top-ranked Occidental on Friday, Chapman hung tough before falling 12-8. The Panthers and Tigers were tied at 5-5 in the second period and Oxy maintained only a 7-6 advantage in the third period before rattling off three straight goals to turn it into a 10-6 lead. Freshman goalie Kirsten Spicer made a career-high 16 saves in the loss and added three steals.
Junior utility Ani Marganian and sophomore utility Juliana Botting each pitched in eight assists over the weekend.
Chapman returns home to host Macalester College (Minn.) on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Allred Olympic Pool. The Panthers are 3-2 at home this season.
by Doug Aiken & Jessica Mitchell
Sports Information Director & Sports Information Intern
Season statistics: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2011-12/files/WWP_12_Season_Stats.pdf
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