New London, Connecticut – The eighth-seeded Wittenberg University Women's Water Polo kicked off play at the 2019 CWPA Div. III Championships with a convincing 14-5 win over ninth-seeded Washington & Jefferson on Friday afternoon at Connecticut College's Jane Cadwell Lott '36 Natatorium. The Tigers then hit the pool nearly four hours later and found themselves on the wrong end of a 17-6 decision against top-seeded Macalester.

The Tigers will now compete in the back draw portion of the CWPA Championships on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. as they are set to take on the winner of Saturday's 11:15 a.m. game between Connecticut College and Utica. Based on the result of that match, Wittenberg will then either play in Sunday's seventh-place match at 9:00 a.m. or the fifth-place match at 10:30 a.m.

Washington & Jefferson Breakdown

The Tigers stormed out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter of play against the Presidents and kept applying the pressure in the second period, outscoring the Presidents, 6-1, to take a 9-2 lead into halftime. Wittenberg then outscored W&J, 5-3, over the final two quarters of play to secure the 1405 win over the Presidents.

Junior Savanah Phillips paced the Tigers with five goals in the game, while freshman Emma Menjivar finished with four goals and classmate Calista Spring found the back of the net twice in the win. In addition, the freshmen trio of Kiersten Heverly, Abigail Dunasky and Tatum Bruno all finished the game with one goal each. Defensively, rookie netminder Anya Bennett finished the game with 12 total saves between the pipes for the Tigers.

Macalester Breakdown

The Tigers than dropped into the back draw of the CWPA Championships bracket later in the evening with a 17-6 loss at the hands of top-seeded Macalester.