PASADENA, Calif. – The Macalester College water polo team wrapped up its Spring Break trip to California with a 9-4 victory at Caltech Tuesday night at Braun Pool. The Scots, ranked eighth in Division III, improve to 4-3 on the season. The Beavers drop to 1-9.

Early in the match, junior Kendall Coney (League City, Texas/Clear Creek) and first year Pooja Bucklin (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) scored back-to-back goals just 45 seconds apart for a 2-0 lead. Caltech scored a pair of goals sandwiched around a goal by sophomore Jess Palmer-Sammons (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) that made the score 3-2 Scots. In the second quarter, Bucklin scored twice to put Macalester ahead 5-2 at halftime. Junior Olivia Dimka (Denton, Texas/John H. Guyer) tallied a goal one minute into the third quarter, then junior Brooke Lane (Meriden, Conn./Hopkins School) scored for a 7-2 advantage. Twenty-six seconds after Lane's goal, the Beavers found the net to make the score 7-3 midway through the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Palmer-Sammons scored again to extend the Scots' lead to 8-3. Lane notched her second goal of the match at the 5:37 mark of the fourth quarter before Caltech converted a penalty shot with 1:14 left to close out the scoring. Sophomore Jayden Kratt (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) registered 11 saves to lead Macalester to the win.

Macalester will face Carthage in a CWPA league match on Friday, Mar. 15. The game starts at 6:00 p.m. in Kenosha, Wis.

MAC – 3 2 2 2 - 9
Caltech – 2 0 1 1 - 4
Macalester goals: Bucklin 3, Palmer-Sammons 2, Lane 2, Coney, Dimka