CMS Women's Water Polo Beats Concordia to Split Opening Day

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Grace Clark had four goals, and Cooper McKenna, Isabel Del Villar and Valerie Wraith each added three as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team defeated Concordia 15-9 to open up its 2024 season with a split, after falling to No. 21 CSU Northridge 12-9 in its opener at the Beach Invite, hosted by Long Beach State.

McKenna had hat tricks in both contests to finish with a team-high six goals on the day, while Mia Adsen and Caitlin Muñoz added two goals apiece against CSUN in the defeat. 

The Concordia game was tied 5-5 midway through the second quarter, before CMS took control with a 4-0 run. Wraith scored the first two goals to start the rally just 30 seconds apart, making it 7-5 with 2:09 left in the half, and Adsen and Del Villar tacked on goals on the next two possessions to push the lead to four. 

Concordia closed out the half with a goal and got back to within 10-8 with 4:38 left in the third, but Del Villar answered the run and then beat the buzzer at the end of the third to give CMS a 13-9 lad heading into the fourth. 

The Athenas then shut out the Eagles in the fourth, as Natalie Stearns had five saves in relief in net in the second half. Clark scored back-to-back goals to help put it away and give CMS the 15-9 win.

In the opening game, CMS was within 9-8 in the fourth quarter after McKenna scored with 7:27 left, but the Matadors were able to put together a 3-0 run to hold off the Athena rally and earn the 12-9 win. Wraith had a late goal to give CMS a glimmer of hope, but it could come no closer. 

McKenna scored the first goal of the season for CMS to tie the score 1-1, and then Del Villar and McKenna had two straight goals to tie it 3-3 with 3:30 left in the half. Adsen scored on the final possession of the half to keep CMS within 5-4 heading to the break, and then scored again on the final possession of the third quarter to make it a 9-7 game heading into the final stanza. 

Stearns had six second-half saves for CMS, while adding two steals, tying Adsen and Wraith for team-high honors. Muñoz had three steals in the Concordia win. 

CMS will be back in action in two weeks when it travels to Brown and Harvard for the Bruno Classic, meeting Brown, St. Francis (N.Y.), Marist and LIU on the East Coast.