This weekend the Macalester Water Polo Team will be traveling to Grove City, PA to cap their season at the CWPA D-III Championships. The team, 8-16 on the season with an 8-6 record in conference play, is ranked fourth going into the tournament. “Our overall goal is to be in the top 4. We are the fourth seed right now and so we would like to stay there, if not improve,” said Head Coach Jennie Charlesworth.

The Scots are led by a pair of seniors, Anya Phillips ’15 and Sarah Shoemaker, who were honorable mention All-Americans for the 2014 season. This season both have been frequent recipients of the CWPA weekly honors with Phillips most recently receiving Defensive Player of the Week honors on April 3.

“Anya and Sarah are really driving forces for us on defense,” Charlesworth said. “Anya has such a strong presence in the goal and she’s one of the top goaltenders in our conference. Sarah is so important to getting our defense going and really getting the whole team moving.”

The team’s opening round game will come against Grove City College, who they have played and bested twice this season. The first win came over Spring Break at the CPWA West Round Robin while the Scots picked up the second during a late March trip to Connecticut for the East Round Robin. Due to the small nature of their conference, many of the Scots opponents at the weekend’s tournament will be familiar foes.

With their eyes on a top 4 finish the Scots are focusing on defense: “Our goal is to be a defensive threat. We want to be super aggressive and not back down on any opponent. It helps for getting up there and then transitioning an aggressive offense,” Charlesworth said.

The Scots will be bringing a team that is balanced between strong seniors stars and wealth of sophomores and freshmen. “It’s just a matter of doing everything that we’ve practiced and being confident,” said Charlesworth.