IRVINE, Calif. - The Concordia Women's Water Polo Team took to the pool for the first time in the 2018 season today in a doubleheader in Riverside, Calif. The Eagles lost a close match to the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer before grabbing their first win of the season over the Whittier College Poets.
 
CUI 8, Pomona-Pitzer 9
 
It was a back-and-forth battle in the water as the Eagles and Sagehens fought in the pool in the first game of the day.  CUI's Madi Sturgis put the Eagles on the board with the first two goals of the game.  Pomona-Pitzer answered back with the last goal of the first quarter and the first of the second quarter.
 
The Eagles broke up the 2-2 tie with 3:30 to go in the second with a goal from Elena Isogawa with an assist from Kelley Geurts.  The offensive charge continued when Sierra Venegas assisted on a goal from Dailynn Santoro, giving Concordia a 4-2 advantage.
 
The third quarter saw much of the same, with the two teams fighting to maintain the lead.  The Sagehens evened the score at four each after scoring the first two goals of the quarter.  Shannon Graham found the net less than a minute later to regain the Eagle lead.  PP took their first lead of the game with 3:24 left in the third after two goals gave the Sageheans a 6-5 lead.  Isogawa and Geurts put the Eagles back in the lead, with assists from Hanna Jordan and Corbin Bricks, respectively, with goals in the last three minutes of the third quarter.
 
The game came down to the final two minutes of the fourth quarter after the Eagles tied things up 8-8 with a goal from Bricks with Jade Jette on the assist.  It was Pomona-Pitzer who emerged victorious from the battle, scoring the winning goal with 1:59 to play.
 
Both Ariana Olmos and Sienna Goggia saw action in the goal for the Eagles.  Olmos made six saves and tallied three steals.  Goggia saved three shots and suffered the loss despite her defensive efforts.

BOX SCORE
 
CUI 9, Whittier 7
 
The Eagles bounced back in the nightcap when they defeated Whittier College 9-7.
 
Isogawa continued her goal-scoring ways just three minutes into the game.  Whittier answered back 20 seconds later to tie the game, then less than a minute after that to take a 2-1 lead.  Graham tied the game with a goal before Isogawa found the back of the net yet again to give Concordia back the lead, closing out the first quarter 3-2.
 
Geurts opened up the scoring in the second quarter less than two minutes in.  The Poets responded with one of their own before Jastine Vazquez scored the Eagles' fifth of the game.  Jordan chipped in her second of the day with three seconds left in the second to close out the quarter with a 6-4 lead.
 
Whittier tied things up to start the third, scoring a goal as the period began and then another with less than two minutes left.  Concordia's Lindsey Heaney swung the momentum back the Eagles' way with a goal 20 seconds later, giving them a lead they would not relinquish.  Isogawa and Heaney scored the final two goals for CUI, cementing the 9-7.

BOX SCORE
 
After the day's doubleheader, the Eagles sit at a 1-1 record and return to the pool on Feb. 3 in Whittier where they will take on Redlands and Chapman.