CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The Augustana Vikings women's water polo team will take on the top-ranked team in the nation on Saturday, May 7 when they square off with the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens in the first of two national semifinal games at the USA Water Polo DIII National Championships.

The Vikings earned an automatic berth following their second-place finish at their first-ever trip to the CWPA DIII Championships in April. The No. 3 seeded Vikings defeated the No. 6 seed Penn State Behrend Lions in the opening contest by a score of 17-2, followed by a close semifinal win over Wittenberg, 15-13, to advance to the title game. Augie fell to Austin in the first-place match, but the Vikings clinched a spot in the national semifinals with their top-two standing.

Pomona-Pitzer enters the national tournament with a 22-15 overall record and are 14-0 in conference against SCIAC schools, which represent eight of the top ten nationally-ranked teams at the DIII level. Only Austin (No. 4) and Augustana (No. 9) are not affiliated with the SCIAC. The Sagehens defeated No. 5 Cal Lutheran and No. 2 Whitter in the SCIAC tournament to clinch the automatic spot at nationals and retain their No. 1 ranking. Pomona-Pitzer has not played a CWPA opponent this season, with their lone scheduled game against Austin canceled earlier this year. 

This will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Augie went 1-4 against SCIAC schools this season, defeating No. 9 Occidental 11-7 for their first win of the season. The Vikings fell in the other four contests, all to nationally-ranked competition, by an average margin of defeat of just five goals.

Win or lose, Augustana will play on Sunday against the winner/loser of No. 4 Austin vs. No. 2 Whittier. The winners of the two games will meet for the national championship, with the other two teams to battle for third. 

Live video and live stats will be available for the game.