ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College water polo team will head to New London, Conn., in search of a conference title at the CWPA Division III Championship, held April 19-21 at Connecticut College's Lott Natatorium. The conference's nine women's water polo teams will compete for the CWPA title as well as the two bids to the Division III Championship, which features the top two teams from the SWPA and the SCIAC. The Scots, seeded second, open against seventh-seeded Carthage on Friday at 1:30 p.m. Central.

Macalester (12-4), coached by Scott Reed, placed second in the CPWA during the regular season with a 7-1 record. First year Pooja Bucklin (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) leads the Scots with 35 goals, 20 assists and 55 points and was named the CWPA Rookie of the Year yesterday. Sophomores Jess Palmer-Sammons (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) and Alana Nadolski (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) each have recorded 42 points on the season. The goalkeeping duties have been shared by senior Laurel O'Hare (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township), who has 73 saves, and sophomore Jayden Kratt (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn), who has 85 saves.

Along with Bucklin's honor, Reed was selected the CWPA Coach of the Year for the third time in his career at Macalester. Bucklin and Palmer-Sammons were included on the All-CWPA first team, while Kratt and Nadolski received All-CWPA honorable mention.

At last year's tournament, held at Macalester's Riley Pool, the fifth-seeded Scots defeated Washington & Jefferson in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual-champion Augustana (Ill.) College in the semifinals. Macalester finished third in the tournament by beating Connecticut College, 13-4 in the third-place game. Augustana, seeded first this season, defeated the Scots during the regular season, 14-4 on Mar. 24 at Riley Pool.

The winner of the Macalester-Carthage game will face either Austin College or Penn State Behrend on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. The CWPA champion will be determined at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

All games at the 2024 CWPA Tournament will be streamed live at https://www.nsnsports.net/colleges/connecticut-college/. Click here to view the tournament website.

2024 CWPA Tournament - Lott Natatorium, Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
(Times are Central Daylight Time)
Friday, April 19
Game 1 - No. 8 Grove City vs. No. 9 Wheaton, 12:00 p.m.
Game 2 - No. 2 Macalester vs. No. 7 Carthage, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 3 Austin vs. No. 6 PSU-Behrend, 3:00 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 4 Connecticut College vs. No. 5 Washington & Jefferson, 4:30 p.m.
Game 5 - No. 1 Augustana vs. Game 1 Winner, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 20
Game 6 - Game 3 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 9:00 a.m.
Game 7 - Game 4 Loser vs. Game 1 Loser, 10:30 a.m.
Game 8 - Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 12:00 p.m.
Game 9 - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 1:30 p.m.
Game 10 - Game 7 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser, 3:00 p.m.
Game 11 - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 5 Loser, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 21
Seventh Place - Game 11 Loser vs. Game 10 Loser, 8:00 a.m.
Fifth Place - Game 11 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 9:30 a.m.
Third Place - Game 9 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser, 11:00 a.m.
Championship - Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9  Winner, 12:30 p.m.