The Monmouth women's water polo team concluded their best season in the history of the program with their highest seed and finish at last weekend's Collegiate Water Polo Association West (CWPA) Championships.

      Two Scots – senior Cassidy O'Connell (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) and sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Curtis (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) – were also named to the All-Tournament team. O'Connell was named to the first team after scoring 15 of the Scots' 26 goals last weekend. Curtis nabbed second team honors with a weekend that produced 34 saves, including 16 in a second round win against Macalester.

      Monmouth entered the weekend in New London, Conn., with the No. 6 seed, the highest seed in the history of the program and faced No. 3 Carthage in the first round. The Scots took a first quarter lead on a goal by O'Connell and never trailed until the final seconds of the half when Carthage scored to take a 5-4 lead. The Lady Reds kept the Scots out of the goal in the third quarter en route to downing Monmouth 17-6.

      The Scots trailed just briefly in an 11-4 second round win over Macalester. Back-to-back goals by O'Connell broke a 2-2 tie after the first quarter and the Scots never looked back, outscoring Macalester 7-2 in the second half.

      An upset was in the making in the fifth place game on Sunday when the Scots met fifth-seeded Grove City. Looking for their first win over the Wolverines in program history, the Scots took a 1-0 lead on an O'Connell goal midway through the first quarter. The teams then traded the lead for much of the first half until Rachel Unger notched her second goal of the second quarter to give Monmouth a 5-4 lead entering halftime. Two goals by Becca Dabrowski and another from O'Connell in the third period pushed Monmouth to an 8-5 lead entering the final frame.

      The Wolverines' offense began to click in the final seven minutes, taking their first lead since early in the second quarter with a goal at the 2:35 mark to go up 9-8. Monmouth quickly countered and forged a 9-9 tie with O'Connell's fourth goal of the game coming with just over a minute to play. Curtis kept the Wolverines out of the net until the final 17 seconds when Grove City scored the winning goal to put the Scots in sixth place at the Championships.

            The weekend wrapped up a successful third season for Monmouth's women. Their 7-11 record produced the most wins and the best winning percentage in program history. Two seniors also concluded their careers in record fashion as O'Connell ended her career as the all-time leading scoring with 156 goals and Kylee Winiecki earned the distinction of logging the most career minutes played in program history.