Behrend Women's Water Polo Has 3-1 Weekend,
Old Records on Their Way Out
This past weekend the Penn State Behrend women's water polo team traveled to the Wheaton College Invitational in Wheaton, Illinois. The Behrend Lions when 3-1 over the two-day span, with the host school handing the blue and white their only loss.
The strong performance by the team marks a significant step for the young program. Coming into this season the team had just 13 wins in three full seasons of competition. Winning is still something the team has to get used to doing. In the last two seasons the Behrend Lions have lost by two or fewer goals eleven times, and by three goals in an additional three games. This weekend was a different story though. The team had a close, hard-fought 8-6 win over Macalester, and 12-3 and 7-6 wins against Carthage.
Three wins in two days is a pace that the team could easily get used to, and one that first-year head coach Joe Tristan would love to maintain. "Maintaining wins will come as our program starts to solidify its structure. Our time is coming and the wins will follow."
The weekend was full of outstanding individual performances, perhaps highlighted by freshman Cara Ludwig's (North Wales/North Penn) seven goal performance against Carthage, setting the all-time mark for goals in a single game. Over the four-game span Ludwig tallied 16 goals, 8 steals, and 5 assists. With 58 goals, Ludwig is just two shy of the single season mark.
Numerous other players are having great years as well. Samantha Cibula (Bradford/Bradford), Sarah McGarvey (Butler/Butler), and Brittany Yost (Pottsville/Pottsville) are now one, two, and three on the single season assists chart with 25, 22, and 20, respectively. Yost is also third in steals for one year with 87. Career records are on their way out as well. Tara Braden (Erie/Fairview), who has made a transition from defender to deep-end goalie, has still managed to climb to number one in steals with 193 and in assists with 49.
The Behrend Lions have five games left on the
schedule to earn wins and challenge all-time records. The women will
travel to Gannon on April 8, for an 8:00 p.m. match-up, and will head
to the Michigan-Allegheny Championships April 16-18. If selected for
the meet, the season will conclude at the Collegiate Championships, at
Redlands University, which take place April 29 - May 1.
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