HOME OF BULLDOG WOMEN'S WATER POLO - Nine SCIAC Titles, Eight Collegiate III Championships

Bulldog Women’s Water Polo Claims Fourth-Place Finish at SCIAC Championships

The University of Redlands women’s water polo team finished fourth in the three-day Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships in Claremont from April 24-26, winning its first game before falling in its final two contests.

Redlands, which entered as the No. 4 seed, used impeccable defense to sink Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Friday, 5-3. The Bulldogs faced a tough test in the Athenas, as they served as the event’s host and drew a home crowd for a 7 p.m. game. Both goalkeepers batted away balls at will as junior goalkeeper Whitney Schieler (Porterville, CA) stopped 14 shots while Abigail Woodruff protected the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps net, notching 11 saves. Redlands used a variety of scoring options as senior center Jen Caron (San Dimas, CA), senior center Sam Greenawalt (Riverside, CA), freshman center Jaime Nippert (Gresham, OR), senior driver Claire Quinn (Fresno, CA) and sophomore driver Chandler Weeks (Palm Desert, CA) all found the back of the net once.

Saturday’s second round featured a matchup between the Bulldogs and regular-season champion Cal Lutheran University. Both teams unleashed a multitude of shots, but the Regals defended their No. 1 seed with a 9-5 win over Redlands. Schieler served as the defense’s last resort once again and fared well, saving 14 shots. Greenawalt led the Maroon and Gray’s scoring effort with three goals while Quinn added two to spell out Redlands’ five-goal total. Ashley Bentz racked up a game-high four goals for Cal Lutheran.

Finally, the squad’s weekend ended with another defensive stalemate, this time against Occidental College. Freshman driver Kelli Moy (Honolulu, HI) fired home two goals to lead the Bulldogs, but the Tigers came out on top in the end, winning by a slight 6-5 margin. Greenawalt, Quinn and freshman driver Taylor Johnson (Long Beach, CA) all supplied one goal apiece while Schieler corralled a game-high nine saves.

Redlands (13-18, 5-5 SCIAC) awaits official notification of a potential bid to the Collegiate III National Tournament, which occurs from Friday, May 1, through Sunday, May 3, at Cal Lutheran’s Samuelson Aquatic Center.