Courtesy: Redlands Athletics
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women’s Water Polo team took on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Saturday morning for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) matchup, and despite another strong defensive game was unable to upend the Athenas on the road falling 7-3.
The Maroon and Grey have now held eight of their last ten opponents under single digits and have gone 5-5 over that stretch dropping their season record to 5-10, 2-6 SCIAC.
Redlands was the first team to score with the opener coming four and a half minutes into the game when Holly Kvanvig (Beaverton, OR) took advantage of a Katrina Nielsen (Houston, TX) pass that put the Bulldogs on top early.
UR’s defense was sharp to start the quarter, holding the Athenas scoreless for the first 6:55, but then allowed two goals in the final two minutes that would put CMS on top 2-1 heading into the second period.
The defense continued in the 2nd Quarter with the Bulldogs limiting the Athenas to just one goal over the eight minutes. But heading into the half UR still found themselves down 3-1 as they were held scoreless in the period.
Claremont-M-S earned a couple quick tallies out of the half across the opening two minutes that increased the lead to 4-1. Kvanvig recorded her second of the game at the 5:42 mark of the quarter, this time getting fed by Sofia Portello (Sonoma, CA). Emma Parker (Yucaipa, CA) then made it two straight for Redlands when she registered a strike at the 1:30 mark pulling the Bulldogs within a couple goals at 5-3.
Despite putting up three goals in the first 24 minutes, the Bulldogs were unable to find the back of the net the rest of the way as they saw CMS add another two insurance goals to help them pull away late 7-3.
Redlands finished with just 12 shots, a season low and was 0-for-5 on power plays, while shooting 25%. Tori Zielinski (Sunnyvale, CA) picked up double digits between the pipes totaling 13 saves along with a .650 save percentage as she continues her strong performance in goal.
Redlands returns to the pool next Wednesday, March 30 when they host Whittier College with game time set for 7:00pm.
