O'FALLON, Illinois – This weekend the Women's Water Polo team traveled to O'Fallon Illinois to compete in the Western Water Polo Association Conference Championship. 4 East coast teams (McKendree, Mercyhurst, Gannon and Salem) and 4 West coast teams (Biola, Cal State East Bay, Fresno Pacific and Cal State Monterey Bay) all compete for the championship title. The tigers who were two-time defending champions went into the tournament facing off against Fresno Pacific. In a hard fought first match the tigers dropped into the bottom 4 pool meaning their next match up was against McKendree University, a team which they had not previously taken down. This game proved to be a difficult on as the tigers went down 5-17 against the bearcats. This left Salem playing off for 7^th place against Gannon university. The tigers had a successful last game against the golden Knights taking the Win 7-6 putting them in 7^th place overall.
 
In game one against Fresno Pacific University the tigers were bested from the first whistle as at half time the score showed 8-1 to Fresno. Salem really tightened up their defense and found the back of the net more effectively in the second half which Salem outscored Fresno 4-2. However, this wasn't enough to make up for the deficit that was created by the sunbirds at the beginning of the game. Courtney O' Shaughnessy scored 3 goals off 9 shots and Shemiyah Ross Tallied 2 goals off 6. Claudia Cziernawski and Kerri Brooks each tallied 1 assist in the game.
 
Game two against McKendree again opened up with an 8-1 score with the bearcats in the lead. Salem was only able to put up another 4 goals in the second half and the final score ended up at 5-17 to the bearcats. Kerri Brooks had a game leading 2 goals. Jojo DeSalvo, Shemiyah Ross and Emma Halle each netted 1 goal.
 
In the final game against Gannon the tigers took the win. They started out trailing Gannon by one goal at half time with the score 3-4. The then outscored the Knights in the last half 4-2 taking the final score to 7-6. Taeghen Hack led the team with a total of three goals, . Iris Oudshoorn was just behind her with 2, Shemiyah Ross and Claudia Cziernawski rounded out the scoring with a goal each to put the tigers over the line to win 7^th place.
 
At the conclusion of the weekend an All-Tournament conference team is named and one Salem Tiger, Claudia Cziernawski, was named in the 2^nd team. These two teams are based on outstanding performances over the course of the weekend and are a great privilege to be listed on. Claudia has had a great impact on the field and had been a real asset in the tiger's offense this season earning her place on the All-Tournament 2^nd team – huge congratulations to the young freshman from Brisbane, Australia.
 
This weekend wraps up the Season for the tigers. The young team has had a great year of opportunity, learning and growth and they will be back in the fall for pre-season training.