SHERMAN, Texas – The Macalester College water polo team opened conference play today at Austin College. In their first game of the day, they dominated Carthage 17-8. In their second game, they played a lower-scoring match but managed to pull out their first-ever win over Augustana in a 7-5 victory.
Against the Firebirds, the Scots fell in an early hole. Carthage rattled off three unanswered points to open the duel and led 5-1 until junior Jess Palmer-Sammons (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) punched in a goal with one second left on the quarter clock. Palmer-Sammons accounted for both Scot goals in that opening frame.
In the second quarter, Mac continued to struggle and trailed 4-7 at the half. After intermission, however, the Scots came alive. Palmer-Sammons slung in two quick goals to pull the Scots within a point before senior Kendall Coney (League City, Texas/Clear Creek) notched one of her own to tie the game. While Carthage would reclaim the lead a few possessions later, first year Anna Gaisser (Seattle, Wash./Ingraham) tied it up again and Palmer-Sammons gave Mac its first lead with just over three minutes to go in the third.
From there, the Scots dominated. Macalester outscored the Firebirds 13-1 in the second half, including a 9-0 run to close the game. The Firebirds scored their final point with 4:43 left on the third quarter clock. Mac scored nine points in the third quarter, their most in a single period all season.
Palmer-Sammons tallied five points in the third quarter alone and nine on the game. Those nine goals tie Catherine Flint '12 for the most by a Scot in a single game. Flint logged the record first against Chatham in 2010. Gaisser finished the game with three goals and four assists. Coney tallied two goals in the game.
The match against the Vikings got off to a similar start for the Scots, who suffered an 0-2 first quarter. In the second quarter, however, Mac found their sea legs and responded with a 4-0 period of their own. Coney, Gaisser, senior Sian Lewandowski (North Haven, Conn./Williston Northampton) and senior Olivia Dimka (Denton, Texas/John H. Guyer) each scored to give the Scots a two-point lead at the half.
From there, Macalester rode their lead to victory. Gaisser notched a pair of goals to keep the Vikings at bay in the third quarter, and a timely score from Palmer-Sammons in the fourth put Augustana away for good.
Junior goalkeeper Jayden Kratt (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) logged a penalty block to help the Scots win the game. The 7-5 victory marks Macalester's first win in program history over Augustana, a relatively new but dominant team in the CWPA. The Vikings had won the previous six matches against the Scots.
Gaisser led all Mac scorers in the second game with three goals, which brought her to six on the day. Palmer-Sammons finished with 10 today, while Coney concluded with three.
The water polo team will return tomorrow, March 16, for another pair of games. The first will happen bright and early against Austin at 8 a.m., and the other will happen later against Penn State Behrend at 1:15 p.m. Both games will take place in Sherman, Texas and will close out the team's trip to the Lone Star State.
MAC – 2 2 9 4 - 17
CC – 5 2 1 0 - 8
Macalester goals: Palmer-Sammons 9, Gaisser 3, Coney 2, Strauss, Fasi, Reynolds
MAC – 0 4 2 1 - 7
CC – 2 0 2 1 - 5
Macalester goals: Gaisser 3, Coney, Dimka, Lewandowski, Palmer-Sammons
