Polo Season In Full Swing

The women’s water polo team opened the 2009 season with three challenging wins against non-conference teams. Two of the wins included UC Santa Cruz and CSU San Bernardino, teams which the Athenas have struggled to beat in previous years.

Starting off the season, CMS defeated UC Santa Cruz 11-9 on February 21. The Athenas controlled the game with strong defense and gave up only one point in man-down defense. Offensively the Athenas used balanced scoring and a strong counter attack to keep UCSC off balance. Senior Lanier Zimmer and sophomore Abigail Woodruff made four and eight saves, respectively. Goals scored: Jessica Palmer (3), Jennifer Ward (2), Abigayle Lin (2), Kendall Snyder (2), Kristyn Ross (1), and Tessa Dover (1).

The following day, CMS played a close game with CSU San Bernardino. CMS was up by one point at halftime and scored four goals in the second half to defeat CSU San Bernardino 8 to 7. Goals scored: Ross (2), Emily Hudson (2), Ward (1), Danielle Welch (1), Sarah Assaad (1), and Snyder (1).

CMS had another win on February 24 against Siena University. The Athenas played the first two quarters tied with Siena. During the second half of the game, Woodruff helped the Athenas break ahead of Siena by making five saves and allowing only two goals. The Athenas finished the game with a score of 6-5.

The weekend of March 7-8, the Athenas traveled to a tournament in Santa Barbara and met strong Division I and NAIA teams. CMS played No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and Cal Baptist University the first day of the tournament and Bucknell University and University of Pacific the second day. Though CMS dealt with tough loses against these teams, the competition helped prepare the Athenas for upcoming Convergence Tournament March 14-15.