Victory over Azusa Pacific Highlights Saturday Split for Athenas

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team split a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday. After falling to the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds 13-10 in their morning match, the Athenas scored a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Azusa Pacific Cougars in the afternoon. Roxy Kiessling (CMC) scored with three seconds remaining in the game to break a 5-5 tie and give the Athenas the victory. Jessica Gaffney led the charge for CMS with three goals in the game.

CMS took a 4-2 on the Cougars midway through the third period thanks to back-to-back goals from Gaffney. Azusa Pacific came back and scored the last goal of the third period and the first goal of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 4-4. Gaffney struck again to put the athenas up 5-4 just 30 seconds after the Cougars tied it up.

A goal from Azusa Pacific's Sarah Adams tied the game again with 4:41 remaining in regulation. The tally set up Kiessling's game-winning strike with just three ticks left on the clock. CMS out shot the Cougars 15-9 in the game. The 6-5 win over the Cougars is a big improvement after falling 11-5 against Azusa Pacific a month ago.

Earlier in the day, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds scored five goals in the second period to take a 7-4 lead into the half against the Athenas in their first game on Saturday morning. The Athenas hung with the Sunbirds throughout the second-half, but were unable to overcome the halftime deficit, falling by a 13-10 final in their first game of the Tina Finali Invitational. Aracelia Aldrete (CMC) led the offensive effort for the Athenas with three goals in the contest. Jessica Gaffney (CMC) and Claire Baxter (CMC) each tallied a pair of goals in the loss.

The Athenas move to 2-3 on the season and they will next be in action on Wednesday when they host Caltech in Axelrood Pool at 4:00 p.m.