Oregon falls in national championship game

Media Credit: Courtesy The Oregon women's club water polo team reached the National Collegiate Club Water Polo Championship game but fell to Cal Poly 7-6 in overtime.

The Oregon women's water polo team took second place in the country this season after an impressive run through the National Collegiate Club Water Polo Championships, where they fell 7-6 in an overtime thriller in the championship game against the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs.

The Ducks, who hosted the tournament at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, went into the tournament as the Northwest Division Champions and ranked seventh in the nation.

The Ducks drew Lindenwood University in the opening round and cruised to a 17-1 victory behind solid play on both ends of the pool. Freshman Beth Gordon had a game-high four goals, including three in the opening two minutes of the game. The sister duo of senior Karen Peront and freshman Katie Peront added three tallies apiece to help the Ducks take an 11-1 lead into halftime. From there, the Duck defense dominated the second half and was backed by the stellar goalkeeping of sophomore Jessica Kragt, who recorded five saves on just seven Lindenwood shots. In total, nine players scored for the Ducks, which helped secure a spot in the second round against the 10th-ranked University of Pennsylvania.

In the second round the Ducks got much more of a competitive opponent in the Penn Quakers. Sophomore Lizzy Flower and Karen Peront each recorded hat tricks to help take the Ducks to a 9-8 victory. The Ducks, who were able to start quickly the previous day, had a little harder time scoring in the opening half. Oregon trailed 7-3 with 6:35 to go in the third, but in the closing minutes of the quarter they scored four times to even the score at seven. With just 10 seconds left in the third, Penn senior Soleil Roberts drew a penalty on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot that she cashed in, giving the Quakers an 8-7 lead going into the fourth.

The fourth was mostly devoid of scoring until Gordon scored the equalizer with 3:42 remaining. Kragt, who stopped seven shots, was huge down the stretch, as Penn and Oregon traded scoring chances the rest of the way until Karen Peront found the back of the cage with just 25 seconds left in regulation to give the Ducks the eventual game-winning goal. Peront was named player of the game in each of the first two rounds.

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