ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The number nine seed Wheaton College (Mass.) women's water polo team fell to number seven seed Grove City College, 22-6, this afternoon in a consolation game of the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship tournament at Anne Greve Lund Natatorium on the campus of host Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.
The Lyons end their season with an 0-13 mark, while the Wolverines improve to 5-14.
Grove City will advance to the seventh-place contest against eighth-seeded Connecticut College tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. EDT in Rock Island, Ill.
The Wolverines owned a 39-24 shot advantage over Wheaton and came up with 13 steals against the Lyons' count of four.
First year center Ryanna Ritting (Perkasie, Pa.) led Wheaton's offense with four goals and added three steals and a drawn exclusion, while sophomore attacker Sophia Romo (Jupiter, Fla.) and junior Josephine Basco (Painesville, Ohio) each netted a goal. Sophomore goalie Amelia Brown (Acton, Mass.) recorded six saves for the Lyons.
Sophomore utility player Shastyn Tihansky (Hazleton, Pa.) tallied a game-high eight points, including seven goals in addition to a pair of field blocks to lead Grove City. Junior utility player Kiley Sill (Virginia Beach, Va.) racked up six points, including three goals to go with four steals and a drawn exclusion, while junior driver Candace Scalise (Clarence, N.Y.) netted a trio of markers and drew an exclusion. Senior driver Kamryn Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) contributed with two goals, three assists, four steals and a drawn exclusion. Junior keeper Lea Steen (Schaumburg, Ill.) made seven saves.
The Wolverines scored 12 of the first 13 goals, including six goals in each of the first two quarters, to take a 12-1 lead with 1:02 left in the second period. Grove City opened with three unanswered goals, including two from Sill. Ritting put Wheaton on the board with her first tally of the game at the 3:28 mark of the opening period. The Wolverines ripped off the next nine scores, fueled by two goals apiece from Kerr, Scalise and Tihansky. Ritting scored again for the Lyons with just 44 ticks left on the second quarter clock to pull Wheaton within 12-2 before the end of the half.
Grove City netted the first two markers of the third quarter, including a goal from senior center Mikayla Zablocki (Kittanning, Pa.), to increase the Wolverine's advantage to 14-2 with 4:44 to play in the quarter. The Lyons traded three goals over the next two-plus minutes with Grove City to keep it a 12-goal deficit at 17-5. Ritting, Basco and Romo each scored in a span of 95 seconds for Wheaton, while Tihansky scored twice for Grove City in the same span, including the final goal of the quarter.
Tihansky scored just 23 beats into the fourth quarter to open the scoring, before Ritting matched her just 23 seconds later with the Lyons' final goal of the game and the season to cut the margin to 18-6. The Wolverines closed out the match with four straight markers.
