CLAREMONT — Despite an impressive comeback effort by the Occidental College women's water polo team, the Tigers were unable to overcome a slow start, losing to top-ranked and undefeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9-8 on Wednesday.
After falling behind 4-1 in the first quarter, the Tigers used a balanced offensive attack to chip away at the Athenas lead, eventually tying the score at 5-5 early in the third quarter.
Five different Tigers scored in the game, with seniors Danielle Garcia (Houston, Texas) and Nanea Fujiyama (Honolulu) and junior Kelsey Shyba (Los Gatos) leading the team with two goals each.
Fujiyama's second goal of the game came on a power play midway through the fourth and the Tigers took their first lead of the match 20 seconds later when Garcia scored from the perimeter to make it 8-7.
It was Oxy's only lead of the game and it didn't last long as CMS quickly responded with the tying goal on its next possession.
After a penalty shot put CMS back in front, the Tigers had an opportunity to get even again in the closing seconds, but a close-range shot by Shyba was saved.
The loss ends a two-game winning streak for the No. 6-ranked Tigers and brings their SCIAC record to 3-4.
Occidental concludes regular season play on Saturday with a home match against Cal Tech. The team will then head to the SCIAC Championship tournament April 26-28 at Pasadena City College with the conference champion advancing to the NCAA Finals in Cambridge, MA April 26-28.
FINAL 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 1 3 2 2 8
CMS 4 1 2 2 9
GOALS: Fujiyama-2, Garcia-2, Shyba-2, Albino-1, Gibbs-1
ASSISTS: McClafferty-3, Garcia-3, Gill-1
STEALS: McClafferty-3, Fujiyama-2, Adeleye-2, Garcia-2, Ransom-1, Shyba-1, Soot-1
SAVES: Adeleye-9
Exclusions: Occidental-5, CMS-3
