It seemed to be deja vu for the Beaver women's water
polo team Thursday at Braun Pool. A weak second period gave way to
a furious second-half rally which fell short in the closing
minutes, as the Beavers fell 14-12. Hanna Dodd again led the Tech
offense, netting six times including a third-period hat trick.
Fellow first year Karen Dowling had perhaps her best game as a
collegiate, finding the back of the cage twice in the fourth
quarter on extra man opportunities all the while expending a ton of
energy on the defensive end, where she had four steals. She also
played the most minutes of her young career.
Macalester boast a powerful offensive twosome of their own in
Senior Sarah Ellerton and Sophomore Catherine Flint, who gave the
Tech defense fits all evening, scoring 10 goals between them.
Working the inside outside game to perfection, the Scots jumped out
to a 3-0 lead 129 seconds into the match. Ellerton beat Beaver
goalkeeper Panna Felsen (Captain) three times in the opening
quarter While Sophomore Erin Hoops joined Dodd and Junior Peggy
Allen--notching her first career goal her first career start--in
scoring as the Beaves found themselves down 6-3 at the 8-minute
break.
The second quarter was ALL Scots, as the deficit balooned to seven.
Mac junior Jillian Benson scored her only two goals of the match in
the decisive period, while Ellerton added her fourth. Only an
outside strike from first year Hanna Dodd stemmed the bleeding, and
the Beavers found themselves down 11-4 at the break.
As has been the case all year long, the half-time rest proved
worthwhile for the Lady Beavers, and they came out on fire in the
third period. Erin Hoops scored a goal and drew an exclusion that
led to one of Dodd's three in the period, but it was the team
effort on the defensive end that drew raves from Coach Moser. "The
intensity on [the defensive] half of the pool was outstanding in
the second half. They came out ready to work in the third quarter,
and if and when we put forth an effort like that for four quarters,
it will be pretty special." Felsen recorded four of her six saves
in the period as well, and just like that the Beavers were back in
the game.
The fourth quarter proved to be a back-and-forth battle, with
Ellerton scoring twice and Flint once, while Dodd added her sixth
to go along with Dowling's brace. Janis Intoy scored her first goal
of the season on a near perfect cross-cage-high-corner strike from
distance. Down 14-12 with just over a minute to go, Dowling missed
her third goal of the period by mere inches, and Sophomore Catilin
Regan was almost as close to halving the deficit on the rebound.
But it wasnt to be as the Scots were able to run the clock down and
preserve the two goal victory.
Erin Hoops continues to show the defensive tenacity that has been
lacking in the program for some time, and today she was given
plenty of help. Dowling and Allen anchored the drop that led to the
Beavers second-half defenive successes, while first year Carly Bond
played significant minutes for the first time, collecting two
steals.
Perhaps the reason the Orange and White were in the game at all was
their 6-on-5 prowess. The Beavers scored on 6 of their 9
opportunities which helped them get back into the match. Their
season average was raised to 46% (11/24).
The Beavers hit the road for the first time this Sunday at Chapman,
the start of a three game road swing, before returning to the
friendly confines of Braun pool for the opening of their Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule against the
Occidental College Tigers on Saturday April 3rd at 11AM.
GO TECH!!!
