Women's Water Polo Drops Two to Open Season

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The Austin College women's water polo team opened up its 2026 campaign against some stout competition in California on Friday, taking on NCAA Division II opponeng Concordia Irvine and Cal State Northridge, currently ranked No. 25 in NCAA Division I. The 'Roos dropped a 23-9 decision against Irvine, and fell 24-10 against CSUN.

Joslyn Dimitri paced the 'Roos in the opener against Concordia Irvine, tallying three goals while Camila Diarte added a pair of scores, but the 'Roos fell behind 4-1 after the opening frame and couldn't keep pace the rest of the way. CUI outscored Austin College 6-3 in the second quarter to take a 10-4 lead into halftime, and 13 second half goals for Concordia put things out of reach.

Bianca Gallegos, Morgan Evans, Sophia King, and Clara Koenig all scored once each for Austin College, as Concordia outshot the 'Roos 31-20 in the game, boasting a .742 shooting perfentage compared to .450 for Austin College.

In the second game of the day against the host school, the 'Roos fell behind 6-2 after the opening frame and found themselves trailing 12-4 at halftime, and seven goals in the third quarter pushed the Northridge lead to 19-7. Austin College put three goals in the back of the cage in the fourth to notch double digits, with Gallegos leading the way in the scoring column with four tallies.

King scored twice in the defeat, while Evans, Diarte, Koenig, and Mikhaela Torres each scored once. Shot attempts were fairly even in the game, with Austin College attempting 30 while CSUN fired off 34 shots, but the Matadors used a .706 shooting percentage while limiting the 'Roos to .333, and CSUN was also 6-of-10 on power plays while the 'Roos were 3-of-13.

Austin College is back in action on Saturday when they square off against a pair of Division III opponents in Caltech and Chapman.