CMS Women's Water Polo Drops Tight Contest to No. 23 Bucknell 7-5

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team outscored No. 23 Bucknell 3-0 in the third quarter to pull within 6-5, but the Bison were able to fight off the challenge and hold on for a 7-5 win on the final day of the Bruno Classic hosted by Brown University on Sunday morning.

With the loss, CMS slips to 1-3 on the young season with all three defeats coming to Division I programs (Marist, Brown Bucknell). The Athenas started off the tournament with a 14-4 win over Division III Austin College. 

Junior defender Anna Fry had both of her goals in the third quarter to help the Athenas rally back from a 6-2 halftime deficit. She scored her first with 2:22 left in the third to close the gap to 6-3, and first-year Christina Kulick followed 39 seconds later to make the score 6-4. Fry then capped off the quarter with 27 seconds left to get CMS back within a single goal heading into the fourth. 

Bucknell had the only goal of the fourth, though, as Ally Furano scored her third of the match with 4:44 to go to give Bucknell an insurance goal. The Athenas earned an exclusion with 2:38 left to try to get the lead back to one, but the Bison killed off the penalty and held on for the two-goal win. 

The score was tied 1-1 after the first quarter after junior defender Amelia Ayala answered a Bucknell goal. The Bison took a 2-1 lead at the 6:59 mark of the second quarter, before sophomore Maddy Menard answered for CMS 15 seconds later to make it a 2-2 game. Bucknell, though, scored four times in the final 5:23 of the half to take a 6-2 lead into the break, and even though the Athenas flipped the momentum in the third, they were unable to come all the way back. 

CMS will now have two weeks off before returning to action when they travel to the Redlands Invitational for two matches on Saturday, Feb. 15, taking on UC San Diego and Ottawa.