The Cal Poly women’s water polo team won the National Collegiate Club Championship on Sunday in Portland, Ore. by defeating Oregon in a double-overtime final, 7-6.
With 12 seconds left in the first of the three-minute extra periods, freshman 2-meter Sarah Ur scored to break the tie.
“Everyone was pretty nervous,” Ur said. “But we just kind of kept our cool and pulled through in the end.”
Oregon opened by scoring first before second-seeded Cal Poly responded with four unanswered scores in the last six minutes of the first period, thanks to one goal apiece by senior 2-meter Colleen Scheitrum and sophomore utility player Roxanne Eastwood, and two courtesy of Ur.
The No. 7 seed Ducks, however, scored with a minute and 27 seconds remaining in the period to cut the margin to 4-2.
Eastwood tallied another goal in the second, but Oregon countered with three of its own to claim a 6-5 advantage with about seven minutes left. Oregon’s slim lead was short-lived, however, with Eastwood scoring yet again to tie the affair with just more than six minutes remaining.
Ur’s decisive tiebreaker was sent into the left side of the cage on an exclusion opportunity.
“I was really nervous,” Mustangs senior goalkeeper Jenny Austin said. “It was definitely a nail-biter.”
The championship hadn’t gone into overtime since 2002, when Michigan State edged Cal Poly 7-6.
“It was a very exciting game,” said Mustangs head coach Bobby Erzen, who was awarded Coach of the Year after the tournament. “A lot of parents and friends came out there to support us.”
After the Mustangs arrived in Oregon on May 1, Erzen was able to schedule a last-minute practice at 8 that night.
“That was good to get the nerves out,” he said.
The following morning, in what Erzen called “a pretty impressive win,” the Mustangs topped No. 12 Chico State 11-6.
Following a 13-1 rout of No. 19 Middlebury College on Saturday, they charged into the semifinals, where they would vanquish No. 5 Arizona 11-5.
“As a whole, we played really well,” Eastwood said. “We just came out with so much energy.”
Ur was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She and Scheitrum made the all-tournament first team, and Austin, who compiled 12 saves in the final, earned second-team distinction.
“We have so many good players on our team, I was surprised more of us didn’t make the all-tournament team,” Ur said.
Cal Poly won its fourth national crown, adding to its titles in 2003 (won against Michigan State), 2004 and 2005 (each against Dartmouth).
The Cal Poly men also won a national championship this season, making for the first time in four years that both squads have achieved the feat.
Ur, while excited about the possibility of repeating, remains mostly grounded in the moment.
“I think we have the potential to leave even more of a legacy,” she said. “But right now I think most of us are still drinking in the win.”