CMS Women's Water Polo Draws Augustana in First Round of Division III Nationals

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team will head to Illinois this weekend to face host Augustana in the semifinals of the USA Water Polo Division III National Championships on Saturday at 12 p.m. (Pacific time).

Pomona-Pitzer and Austin College will meet in the other semifinal with the two winners battling for the national title on Sunday at 10 a.m. (Pacific time). 

CMS earned its ticket to the national event for the first time after defeating Cal Lutheran 9-6 in the SCIAC Semifinals. USA Water Polo began sponsoring a Division III Championship in 2019-20, starting with a men's water polo championship in the fall, but the women's one was canceled in the spring due to the pandemic, and was first held a year ago, with Pomona-Pitzer defeating Whittier in the finals. 

This year, CMS and Pomona-Pitzer could meet for the third time this season in the finals if both can win their Saturday semis. Pomona-Pitzer defeated CMS 13-10 and 9-5 in the two meetings this year, which were both tight in the fourth quarter before the Sagehens were able to pull away. 

The CMS women's water polo team has won national tournaments in the past, when it was called the Collegiate III Nationals, earning a title in 1992 as a club team, which created a springboard to becoming a varsity program, and taking an overtime win over Redlands for the title in 2001. CMS last competed in a national postseason event in 2006, when it went to the NCAA Championships and lost to USC and UC Davis, before defeating Marist in the seventh-place game. 

CMS and Augustana met earlier this season at the Claremont Convergence at Axelrood Pool, which the Athenas won 22-13. Cooper McKenna had five goals, Caitlin Muñoz had four, and Dara Schoolcraft and Grace Clark each had three. CMS and Austin last met in 2020 before the pandemic hit, with the Athenas winning 14-4. 

For all of the USA Water Polo Division III Championship information, including links to live video and stats, go to the following link:

USA Water Polo Division III Championship