WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's water polo team was defeated by Connecticut College, 17-4, this evening at the CWPA Weekend hosted by Washington & Jefferson College at the Henry Memorial Natatorium in Washington, Pa.
The Lyons drop to 0-5 on the season and 0-4 in CWPA action, while the Camels improve to a perfect 4-0 and 3-0 in the league.
First year center Sophia Romo (Jupiter, Fla.) became the second player in school history to record a hat trick with three goals, while junior utility player Allie Taylor (Raleigh, N.C.) added a goal for Wheaton.
Sophomore defender Anna Taylor (Pleasanton, Calif.) and first year Maddie Baybeck (Ann Arbor, Mich.) scored a game-high four goals to lead Connecticut College. Sophomore Ainsley Cornwall (San Mateo, Calif.) added three goals.
The teams traded goals in the opening minutes of play with Cornwall opening the scoring for the Camels with a marker coming just 20 seconds into the match, before Romo tied it just 75 seconds later for the Lyons to make it 1-1.
Connecticut College reeled off 10 straight goals, including three from Anna Taylor and two from Cornwall in addition to a marker from senior driver Gicel Zuniga (Norwalk, Conn.) to give the Camels an 11-1 advantage with 2:26 remaining in the second quarter.
Wheaton tallied the next two markers with Romo finding the back of the net with 2:08 to go and Allie Taylor scoring with 88 ticks left in the second quarter to pull the Lyons within 11-3. Anna Taylor netted the final goal of the first half to increase Connecticut College's lead to 12-3.
The Camels continued their momentum with four unanswered markers capped by a tally from Baybeck to give Connecticut College a 16-3 cushion. Romo countered with her third goal of the evening for Wheaton to cut the deficit to 16-4, before first year Grace Isola (San Mateo, Calif.) netted the last goal of the contest to bump the Camels' advantage to 17-4.
The Lyons return to action when they travel to New London, Conn. to play Connecticut College for the third time this season on Wednesday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m., while the Camels return to play Pennsylvania State University Behrend tomorrow at 10:20 a.m. at Henry Memorial Natatorium.
