CMS Women's Water Polo Attack Kicks Into High Gear in 17-6 Road Win Over Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and went on to its highest-scoring output of the season, taking a 17-6 road win over Caltech on Saturday morning.

Senior Kaitlyn Eng and sophomore Amelia Ayala each had hat tricks for the Athenas, who improve to 7-12 overall and get back over .500 in conference play at 5-4. Caltech falls to 2-14 overall and 0-10 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

Eng gave CMS the lead for good on the opening possession of the contest, off an assist from Ayala. Sophomore center Chandlyr Denaro then had back-to-back goals 50 seconds apart at the 5:55 and 5:05 marks to quickly put the Athenas ahead 3-0. 

Ayala tallied her first to make it 4-0 off a feed from freshman Maddy Menard, before Ayala and freshman Ayla Huhn scored to make it a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

Caltech got on the board on its first possession of the second quarter, but that goal was quickly answered by Eng with her second. Sophomore Aracelia Aldrete and senior Haley Gibbs answered a Caltech tally to stretch the lead to 9-2, and freshman Emily McElroy and Addi Duvall scored around the third from Ayala to give CMS a 12-3 lead going into halftime. 

Gibbs and McElroy each scored their second goals in the third quarter, and Eng finished off her hat trick to start the fourth. Duvall added her second, and junior Celeste Cerna capped off the CMS scoring to make the final score 17-6. 

Menard, Huhn and senior Krystal Sung each had three assists, while Ayala and McElroy each had two. Menard led the defense with four steals, while Aldrete and Sung each had three. Freshman Jessica Salaz started and had four saves and two steals to get the win. 

CMS will be back in action on Monday night to take on Chapman at Axelrood Pool at 7 p.m. That game is a rescheduling of a contest which was postponed back in February.