The Bison Women’s Water Polo team traveled to New England this past weekend to face-off against three ranked CWPA League opponents. They started the weekend against number seven Princeton and number 14 Harvard on Saturday, April 1 in Cambridge, Mass. The Orange and Blue then closed out the weekend in Providence, R.I. against number 21 Brown. The Bison fought hard in all three matches but ended the weekend 0-3.

The Bison opened up against Princeton, who came out on fire from the opening whistle. The Tigers opened up the scoring, with two quick goals. Bella Schraa ’26 got the Orange and Blue on the board soon after, cutting the deficit 2-1. This was not enough to slow the Tiger attack, however, as they scored four more goals in the first quarter. Heading into the second quarter, the Tigers scored two more goals followed by another Schraa goal. Princeton added four more goals throughout the quarter, while the Orange and Blue found the back of the net twice off Isabelle Monaghan ’24 and Gwen Kallmeyer ’26 goals. The Bison entered halftime down 12-4, and this would be the closest they would get to the Tigers, who tallied eight more goals in the third and fourth quarters to earn a 20-4 victory.

The Bison returned to face Harvard later the same day. While maintaining a close goal margin, the Orange and Blue were unable to overcome the Crimson attack throughout the match. The Bison were only able to put up seven goals to Harvard’s 19, leading the Crimson to victory.

The Orange and Blue ended the weekend against Brown. Looking to rebound from Saturday, the Bison came out on fire with a 5-1 lead in the first quarter. There were four different goal-scorers for the Bison this quarter from Chloe Smith ’23, Bella Moynihan ’23, Schraa and two from Kallmeyer. In the second quarter, Brown caught up to the Bison, scoring five goals and taking the lead 6-5 into halftime. The Orange and Blue continued to stay in the game in the third quarter, scoring two more goals to Brown’s three. It was not until the fourth quarter that Brown pulled away with a 14-9 victory. 

“This weekend’s games tested our physicality facing some of the most aggressive teams on the east coast,” Schraa said. “We did well adjusting to the physicality along with improving a lot on the offensive and defensive plays we have been working on during practice.” Heading into the last push of the season, the team “will continue to work on conditioning, defensive shot blocking, finishing our shots and our mental toughness.”

The Bison are on the final stretch of their 2023 season, as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. in two weeks to play their final regular-season CWPA matches. The Bison will rematch against Harvard and Princeton on Saturday, April 15 with match times set for 12:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. They will then close out the weekend against Brown on Sunday, April 16 at 9 a.m.