Pitzer’s Namlhun Jachung ’24 earns MVP
Claremont, Calif. (May 9, 2022)—For the first time ever, the Pomona-Pitzer Women’s Water Polo team was crowned as the USA Water Polo Division III National Champions after their 8-6 win over Whittier College on Sunday afternoon at Haldeman Pool. Pitzer student Namlhun Jachung ’24 was named the tournament MVP.
The Sagehens earned the triple crown in 2022 by winning the Division III National Championship, the SCIAC Tournament Championship, and the SCIAC Regular Season Championship.
The Sagehens were led by Jachung, who scored two goals and four assists in the win. Jachung recently earned SCIAC Newcomer of the Year.
Abigail Wiesenthal PO’24 and Lucie Abele PO’22 netted two goals as well while Allison Sullivan Wu PO’22 and Alexandra Szczerba PO’25 scored one. May Lin PO’24 got the start and the win for the Sagehens in the cage after she played the first half with two saves, and Zosia Amberger PO’25 finished the game for the Sagehens with six saves in the second half.
Pomona-Pitzer never trailed in its win over Whittier. Jachung netted the first goal of the game after an exclusion on Whittier, and Sullivan Wu also scored a powerplay goal within the first two minutes of the game. Wisenthal scored the first even strength goal for the Sagehens to take a 3-0 lead before Whittier scored its first goal.
The Sagehens and Poets exchanged goals to end the first quarter to make it 4-2 Sagehens entering the second quarter.
The Poets cut it down to one goal with the opening score of the second quarter, but the Sagehens came back with the final goal of the first half.
The Sagehens opened the second half with a goal from Wiesenthal to double up on the Poets at 6-3 as the Sagehens and Amberger kept Whittier off the scoreboard in the third.
Whittier cut the lead down to two at 6-4 early in the fourth, but the Sagehens answered from Abele and a break-away from Jachung to make it 8-5 with 1:54 left in the game.
The Poets netted a goal to make it 8-6 with 30 seconds left, but the Sagehens did enough damage as they were able to run out the clock and earn the first-ever USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championship.
Adapted from the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics press release “Sagehens Crowned USA Water Polo Division III National Champions.” See the full play-by-play in the original release. To learn more, please visit Sagehen Athletics.
