CMS Women's Water Polo Drops Overtime Decision at Whittier

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team battled Whittier evenly throughout the contest but came up on the short end of a 10-9 overtime decision on Wednesday night at Slade Aquatic Center.

First-year Christina Kulick led the way for CMS with three goals, as the Athenas slip to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in the SCIAC. Whittier improves to 9-5 overall and 2-0 in league play with the win. 

Kulick scored the first two goals of the game, and sophomore Addi Duvall added one to give CMS a quick 3-0 lead. Whittier pulled to within 3-2 at the end of the first and added two goals in the second to make it 4-3, before sophomore Maddy Menard ended the 4-0 Whittier run to tie the score 4-4. Junior Chandlyr Denaro finished off the half with a goal as CMS trailed 6-5 at the break. 

Senior Aracelia Aldrete started the second half with a goal to tie it, and Kulick added her third goal of the game to make it a 7-7 game after three quarters. 

CMS took momentum at the start of the fourth quarter with goals from junior Anna Fry and sophomore Alex Szymczak to make it a 9-7 lead. Whittier, though, was able to tie the game up in the final minute with a Sawyer Bellville goal. Natasha Velez gave the Poets the lead with less than a minute left in overtime, and the Athenas couldn't answer as Whittier held on for the win. 

The Athenas will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Caltech for an 11 a.m. contest at Axelrood Pool.