FULLERTON, Calif. -- The Augustana Vikings women's water polo team split the final day of the Claremont Coverage on Saturday. The Vikings fell to the Cal Lutheran Regals by a score of 11-6 before defeating Occidental Tigers 12-8.

Game one against Cal Lutheran

After a scoreless four minutes, Anais Jones found the back of the net first before Jersey Merrick followed two minutes later to grab the early advantage. Cal Lutheran remained at a goose egg until 50 seconds on the clock to create a 2-1 score after eight minutes of action. In the second, both teams defended shots until 3:36 when the Regals scored and tallied another a minutes later to overtake the game 3-2. Both teams traded shots in the final two minutes, with Braelyn Hill evening the game after a successful shot on a penalty attempt. Cal Lutheran tallied another before Carli Udovich closed out the half with a goal to draw the score even at 4-4.

Returning to action, Alayna Ickert kicked off the scoring with 5:30 on the clock to regain the upper hand. The Regals followed with two goals in the final two minutes of play to overtake the game 6-5 heading into the final period. In the fourth, Cal Lutheran outscored Augie 5-1 in the final eight minutes. Waiahuli Akau obtained the final goal for the Vikings to conclude the game with a final score of 11-6.

Six different Vikings scored, while Akau collected two assists. Hill and Maya Biela stole two possessions apeice and Susan Palmentera-Reid saved 10 attempts in their 32 minutes in goal. 

Game two against Occidental 
 
Augie kicked off the game with a goal from Emma Blezien, and both teams remained scoreless for five minutes before Hailey Sherman collected her first goal of the day. The Tigers grabbed their first goal at 1:11, but Augie followed with two more in the final minutes. Akau found the back of the net with 58 seconds on the clock before Blezien scored a buzzer-beater to make a 4-1 game after eight minutes of play. In the second, neither team found the back of the net until Sherman at 3:40. Akau put up another successful shot a minute later. Occidental found two more in the final minute before Akau scored another buzzer-beater for Augie, moving the game to 7-3 entering the halftime break.

Returning to action, both teams traded shots with Augie collecting just one more. The Tigers scored first before Abigail Gatlin found the back of the net. Occidental earned another goal, and the Vikings followed with back-to-back successful shots from Jones and Blezien. The Tigers nailed a buzzer-beater goal to create a 10-6 game. In the fourth, the teams didn't score until Udovich at 4:10 on a penalty shot before Mary King added a goal to the score sheet two minutes later. Occidental tallied two in the final two minutes, but the Vikings maintained the lead to win 12-8.

Seven Vikings scored in the win, with Blezien and Akau scoring three apiece. Jones collected two assists and Palmentera-Reid saved 13 attempts in their 32 minutes in the cage.

With the split record, Augie moves to 9-3 on the season and will be back in action on March 14 for the CWPA West Tourney in Kenosha, Wis.