Water Polo National Championship
Pomona Pitzer vs. CMS
In May Pomona-Pitzer captured its fourth straight USA Water Polo Division III championship, defeating chief rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), 9-8, to cap another unblemished postseason run.
Kaylee Stigar ’25
The four-peat sent Zosia Amberger ’25 and Kaylee Stigar ’25 into the sunset with the unprecedented milestone of having never lost a playoff game in blue and orange. Amberger started in goal all four years and was named Tournament MVP this spring.
“Zosia’s probably the best goalie I’ve had here [and] a huge part of what we’ve been able to do,” says head coach Alex Rodriguez. “Kaylee really stepped up and played phenomenally in the finals—she had this anger and vengeance that really helped us.”
As seniors, Amberger and Stigar were among the class of Sagehens that started at Pomona when students returned to campus following the initial pandemic shutdown. In that first year as Sagehens, Rodriguez says the current seniors learned much from the Class of 2022, including how to lead and handle adversity.
With as much winning as the program has done these past four years, the pressure to retain the top spot in Division III mounts, Rodriguez says.
“I have a simple philosophy that to get better, you have to play better teams,” the coach adds. “Because our sport is small, we play a lot of Division I teams early in the season, and that’s how we develop small goals. To be clutch, to be someone who plays well in big moments, you have to understand you’re going to fail sometimes.”
Zosia Amberger ’25
Despite losing Pomona grads Amberger, Stigar and a handful of seniors from Pitzer College, the Sagehens do not expect to relinquish their stranglehold on Division III women’s water polo anytime soon.
Rodriguez and associate head coach Alex La—one of the best coaches in Division III, Rodriguez says—expect leadership roles to be filled by Brienz Lang ’26, Gabby Lewis ’26 and Zosia’s sister Mia Amberger ’26, with key underclassmen continuing to develop and contribute in meaningful ways.
“The goal of every season is to try to have little championship moments every week,” Rodriguez says. “We try to prepare to win certain types of games, get more feathers in our cap, then win a Division III championship by the end.”