Finals season started early for athletes at the Claremont Colleges as the Sagehens and Athenas looked to make the grade in a trio of championship showdowns on Sixth Street. Ultimately, it was straight A’s for the Hens on the semester, sending the Athenas home with no credit and no titles.
The Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) women’s water polo team captured their third consecutive NCAA Division III national championship on Sunday, May 5, drowning out their Sixth Street rivals for the second year in a row, defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) 15-10 at Haldeman Pool.
The Sagehens’ victory over the Athenas in the water came just a day after SCIAC championship wins by P-P on the courts and on the field.
In the early afternoon on Saturday, May 4, P-P women’s tennis aced their final against CMS 5-3 at Biszantz Family Tennis Center, winning their first conference championship since 2011 and ending a 13-year stretch of absolute conference and national dominance by CMS that included back to back national championships in 2022 and 2023.
In the evening of May 4, P-P took another title from CMS, this time schooling them on the lacrosse field. After a narrow victory over the Athenas during their final regular season matchup, Sagehens lacrosse handily defeated the Athenas 18-8 at the South Athletics Complex to win their third straight conference championship.
As women’s tennis and lacrosse celebrate their automatic bids to nationals, they will look to learn a thing or two from women’s water polo, once again national champions.
Matching the energy of possibly the most raucous crowd Haleman Pool has ever seen, Sunday’s Sixth Street bout was an intense, physical battle between old rivals that did not disappoint. With bragging rights, pride and, most importantly, the national championship on the line, the Sagehens and Athenas set the pool ablaze.
The matchup was especially personal for both teams with the Sagehens looking to maintain their reign of terror over DIII water polo, and the Athenas looking to finally achieve revenge for their overtime loss against P-P in the national championship final one year ago.
After falling to P-P twice during the regular season and once again in a heartbreaking 11-10 loss in this year’s SCIAC championship game, CMS was determined to knock the Hens off their perch, and from the opening horn on Sunday, it looked like they might do just that.
The game opened with both teams firing out of the gate with near misses on shots from both sides in just the first minute of the game. With the pressure on from both sides, it was only a matter of time before one found the back of the net. Just over two minutes into the game, P-P would prove to strike first with Madison Lewis PO ’24 knocking in a rebound on a shot from Namlhun Jachung PZ ’24 to put the Hens up 1-0.
The teams would continue to go back and forth with Athenas keeper Mason Spencer CM ’26 making two tough saves. CMS’ strong first quarter defense would prove to be their best offense as a steal near the net by Mia Adsen SC ’24 gave the Athenas the equalizer with 3:13 left to play. Less than thirty seconds later, CMS would strike again, with Spencer hitting Valerie Wraith on a deep pass to set up an open shot that found the twine.
P-P evened the game at 2 as Mia Amberger PO ’26 scored on a powerplay with 2:33 left to play, but a Sagehens’ foul in the middle of the pool left Wraith wide open to put the Athenas back up 3-2 with 1:55 on the clock.
CMS looked to add to their lead on two shots following Sagehen turnovers, but excellent saves by Zosia Amberger PO ’25 on multiple point blank shots kept them from gaining any distance. Despite their slow start, Zosia Amberger was confident P-P could turn it around in a hurry, referencing past matchups with CMS.
“I think our team is really deep,” Zosia Amberger said. “We’ve come out slow a few times against [CMS] but all we have to do is just keep going. We know we can play at a higher pace because … everyone is equally good and can easily push that. I think we missed the cage a few times like right off the bat but I think we kept level heads and kept the pool.”
She described a meeting the team had with recent P-P Hall of Fame inductee and former national champion Tamara Perea PZ ’11, who told the team “it’s not over until the fourth quarter ends.”
Kaylee Stigar PO ’25 took this idea to heart as well, explaining that the game is more a marathon for the Hens than a sprint, something evident in P-P’s semi-final matchup versus Austin College where the Sagehens only outscored the ‘Roos by two in the first quarter, but by 12 in the second.
“In the past few games that we’ve played, we kind of had a slow first quarter,” Stigar said. “And I think that’s just kind of warming up and telling ourselves that like we’re here in the long run, and in the long run, we’re gonna stick to what we know and start scoring goals when we can and not try to run out of gas in the first quarter.”
And Stigar did just that in the second period, taking advantage of a powerplay two minutes in, evening the game at three with a good look that ricocheted off the keeper and into the net.
CMS would respond after exclusions on two P-P players going up 4-3 with 5:32 left in the half; however, for the remainder of the half, this would be the only time they found the net.
The second quarter would feature the Sagehens’ most dominant run of the day with lockdown defense promoting prolific offense. Following back to back goals by Jachung, CMS was halted on the offensive end. Missing an open shot high over the cage and having their next good look stuffed by Zosia Amberger, the Athenas were on their heels, unable to stop Ayva Magna PO ’26 from putting P-P up 6-3.
The Hens continued their lockdown defensive effort, forcing a shot clock violation that would set up yet another goal. CMS proved to be fully outmatched in the quarter after Zosia Amberger blocked Wraith’s penalty shot, leading directly to a goal on the other end off a high arcing shot by Lulu Gaither PZ ’25. Still, the Sagehens weren’t done, adding two more before the end of the half to put them up 10-4.
Despite having five saves in the first half, Zosia Amberger credited their defensive success in the second quarter and throughout the game to her teammates
“I think we had amazing pressing defense,” Zosia Amberger said. “This game we really controlled them and control the pace of the game, which I think is what really brought us our success.”
The third quarter saw continued success for the Sagehens with physical play ramping up significantly. Throughout the quarter, numerous hard-fought turnovers and exclusions intensified the feeling both in the pool and among the fans in the stands.
Regardless, P-P continued to strike with Abigail Wiesenthal PO ’24 weaving a shot through heavy traffic to open scoring in the half. The Hens would add another on a powerplay before CMS ended an 11:33 minute scoring drought with a penalty shot by Grace Clark CM ’26 with 1:59 left. Unfazed, the Sagehens returned the favor with Lisbon Zeigler PO ’27 scoring on a one-on-none fast break to end the quarter up 13-5.
According to interim head coach Alex La, much of the Sagehens’ ability to shut down CMS’ offense, which scored 23 points in its semi-final matchup against Augustana College, comes from knowing the Athenas inside and out.
“I think that water polo can be simple,” La said. “At the end of the day I really wanted the team to focus on us. We’ve played [CMS] so much, but I think that allowed us to really know our opponent [and] then focus on what we do really well.”
The fourth quarter saw CMS mount a comeback that ultimately fell short. After Stigar put another tally on the board for P-P, the Athenas found the cage on a powerplay. This was the first of three goals by the Athenas, but it wouldn’t be enough. After one final goal for the Hens by Paityn Richardson PO ’27 and two more for CMS, the final horn sounded and P-P had officially won their third straight national title.
Jumping into the pool in celebration, and taking their coach with them, the Sagehens cemented their reign as the best in the country.
Stigar, who won the tournament’s most valuable player award, emphasized how meaningful the victory was for the Hens.
“I’m just the most excited I’ve ever been,” Stigar said. “I’ve trusted my team the whole time obviously but just at the end when you finally get to that last minute there’s no better feeling.”
La, who will be returning to his position as associate head coach next season, explained what it meant for him to get the opportunity to lead the team to the peak of success while head coach Alex Rodriguez was on sabbatical this semester.
“I’m very thankful that the team trusted me right away,” La said. “During the whole game, I felt a lot of confidence because we were playing well together as a group. Not one person just shines. We had the whole team shine.”
While many of the team’s top players will be graduating after this season, La remains confident they will be right back here in 2025.
“We have a junior class, sophomore class and a freshman class, I think they’re all ready to step up,” La said. “I think at the end of the day our program is filled with strong, powerful women who want everything … They’re hungry for more and I think that’s what makes us special is how tough we are.”
According to Stigar, the Sagehens are not ready to stop, and for P-P, title number four is already on the horizon.
“We want it next year,” Stigar said.
Facebook Comments