PASADENA — The Occidental College women's water polo team entered the 2013 season ranked fourth and when the dust settled that's right where they finished.
A season of close calls and challenging opponents finished with a 9-8 sudden-death overtime loss to No. 1-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the final day of competition at the SCIAC Championship tournament.
Senior Nanea Fujiyama (Honolulu) finished her career in style with a three-goal effort to give her 303 for her career. She sits atop the school's all-time list.
Fellow senior Rachel Adeleye (Elizabeth, N.J.) racked up 10 saves in her final game as a Tiger. She added four steals, while senior Danielle Garcia (Houston, Texas) scored once and added two assists in her final appearance for Oxy.
With the scored tied at three at the half, Oxy exploded for three unanswered goals in the third to take a 7-4 advantage into the final frame.
With Oxy still ahead by three and just under five minutes to play, CMS went on a three-goal run of its own to tie the score and send the game into OT.
Neither team could net a shot in the first 3-minute period, and they split goals in the second to send the match into sudden death.
Oxy won the opening sprint, but missed a long perimeter shot and CMS quickly countered down the pool to set up the eventual game winner.
Athenas junior Alex Toohey, managed to weave her way around two Oxy defenders and float a shot just passed the reach of Adeleye to hand CMS the win.
The Tigers finish the 2013 campaign 11-21 overall, with a 5-6 mark in SCIAC play. The final conference standing marks the sixth consecutive year, and eighth time in the last 10 seasons that the team has finished among the top four in the SCIAC.
