Women's Water Polo | 4/2/2017 4:30:00 PM
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson women's water polo team improved to 9-0 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III standings with a pair of victories on the back end of a home-and-home series against Grove City and Penn State Behrend by defeating the Wolverines 12-6 and then besting the Lions 11-8.
With the victories, the Presidents have now won 10-straight matches in improving to 11-3 on the year. W&J is currently ranked first in the CWPAÂ Division III Top 5 poll, 10th in the CWPA Top 10 poll and ninth in the Division III top 10 poll.
W&J built a 6-0 lead in the opener against Grove City as
Liz Klock (New Lennox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central),
Brittney Patterson (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) and
Macel Reising (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) tallied goals in the first quarter and
Sarah Latzo (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria) found the back of the net before Patterson tickled the twine twice in the second quarter, 6-0. Grove City got on the board 1:35 to play in the half as W&J led by a 6-1 count at halftime.
Patterson opened the scoring in the second half 1:13 into the third quarter with her fourth goal of the day.
Lexie Gartner (West Lawn, Pa./Wilson) got in on the action at the 4:04-mark to extend the lead to 8-2, but Grove City connected twice to end the third period with a score of 8-4.
Latzo responded twice within the first 2:15 of the fourth quarter, 10-4, and Reising made it 11-4 before Latzo fired in her fourth of the day at 3:36 to make the game 12-4. Grove City scored twice down the stretch to yield the final margin of 12-6.
Ally Hopkins (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) made seven saves in the opener for W&J.
The nightcap against Penn State Behrend saw the guests strike first 1:00 into the game. Klock needed just six seconds to tie the score at 1-1, however. Patterson later tied the game at 2-2, but Behrend held a 3-2 lead after eight minutes. Latzo tied the game at 3-3 at the 6:30-mark of the second quarter and then Klock and Latzo scored 22 seconds apart to give W&J a 5-3 lead. The Lions would go on to tie the game at 5-5, but Patterson's second goal of the game came with under two minutes remaining in the half and allowed the Presidents to boast a 6-5 lead at intermission.
The third quarter was where the home team was able to gain breathing room, out-scoring PSB by a 4-0 count thanks to goals by Reising,
Paige Adams (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin), Gartner and Latzo. Gartner collected W&J's lone goal in the fourth quarter, but the Presidents held off the Lions' comeback attempt and the score of 11-8.
Hopkins turned away an impressive 14 shots in the victory against the Lions.
W&J will host the final CWPA Division III Regional Tournament of the season next weekend, Friday-Sunday, April 7-9. Action begins on Friday at 11 a.m. against Monmouth (Ill.).
Highlights
Grove City
A Brittney Patterson 5-meter penalty shot is good and W&J leads Grove City 6-1 at halftime
Sarah Latzo pushes the W&J lead over Grove City to 9-4 with 6 minutes left
Penn State Behrend
Liz Klock tips in a pass from Sarah Latzo to put W&J up 4-3 with 5:00 left 2nd quarter.
Time lapse of an entire possession that was capped by Macel Reising giving W&J a 7-5 lead in the third quarter
Lexie Gartner stretches the lead to 9-5 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter!
Gartner again! And W&J now leads Behrend 11-6 with 6:30 remaining
