Just two seconds kept the Monmouth College women's water polo team from a potential split of their home tournament Saturday and Sunday after dropping a pair of games to buzzer beaters.
Hosting the five-team tournament,
Peter Ollis' women were seconds away from potential wins in their middle two games. Saturday's play ended when Wittenberg nailed a buzzer beater to clip the Scots 13-12.
Monmouth had pulled out to a 6-4 lead at the half when
Emily Mathews' goal at the 3:10 mark broke a 4-4 deadlock and
Skylar Rapp drilled in a goal a minute later. Another Rapp score early in the third quarter pushed the lead to 7-4 before the Tigers rallied. Knotted at 10-all entering the fourth Rapp again scored a go-ahead goal and
Ashling Staunton drained her fourth goal of the game for a 12-10 lead. Wittenberg countered with three goals in the final 2:40, capped by the buzzer beater.
Sunday's opening match had a similar, but even more dramatic ending. The Scots spotted Carthage a 3-0 lead before their offense awakened.
Becca Waxberg nailed Monmouth's first goal with 2:11 left in the first quarter to get the ball rolling. Trailing 6-2 entering the third quarter, the Scots got back-to-back goals from Staunton and one from Rapp at the end of the period to close the gap to 7-5. Staunton and Waxberg then scored midway through the final frame to knot the game at 7-7. After the teams traded scores, the game was tied at 9-9 with two seconds to play. Carthage got the last shot when Monmouth's attempt in the waning seconds missed and the Redmen made it count on a three-quarter court shot as the buzzer sounded to hand the Scots their second, last second loss in as many games.
The Scots had opened and closed the weekend with a pair of blowout losses. The Scots opened play Saturday with a 22-6 loss to Austin College. The Roos took a 7-1 lead and never let up to win going away.
The Scots fell behind 8-2 in Sunday's finale to Macalester on the way to an 18-7 loss. Staunton again led Monmouth with four goals to finish the weekend with a team high 15. Rapp punched in seven as eight different Scots scored on the weekend.
Monmouth will travel to Macalester for another tournament the weekend of March 27-29.
