W&J women’s water polo in D-III Final Four

Observer-Reporter

The Washington & Jefferson College women’s water polo team will be playing in the USA Water Polo Division III Nationals this weekend at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.

It will be the first time in the national Final Four for the Presidents.

W&J (14-7) will play Pomona-Pitzer (23-10) on Saturday (5 p.m.) in one of the semifinals. The other semifinal will match Augustana (15-8) against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (19-10). The finals will be held Sunday.

W&J is ranked ninth in the Women’s Varsity Division III Top 10 and third in the Women’s Varsity CWPA Division III Top 5.

This will be W&J’s second trip to Rock Island. The Presidents competed there April 11-13 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championships, where they advanced to the title match.

In that tournament, W&J defeated Carthage, 16-14, and Macalester, 9-6, before losing to Augustana, 10-7, in the championship match. It was the seventh time W&J had been the runner-up in the CWPA tournament.

However, the title game was a stepping stone as it put W&J in the Division III Final Four.

W&J head coach Nikola Malezanov was named the CWPA Coach of the Year. The Presidents’ Emme Ratcliff was named to the All-CWPA first team in addition to being the CWPA Rookie of the Year. E. Ratcliff set a season-best with 11 goals in a game against Grove City.

Ratcliff was joined on the first team by Emma Halle. The senior from North Allegheny scored 60 goals during the regular season.