After a four-game weekend, the Red Foxes walked away from their final game with a win over La Salle Explorers. Coming out with a strong offense in the first two periods of the game, the Marist Women’s Water Polo team won with a final score of 16-10 over La Salle.
After two tough losses on Saturday against MAAC competitors, Iona and Wagner, the Red Foxes came back on Sunday to win against Villanova and La Salle. On Saturday, Marist lost in a close game to Iona with a final score of 13-15. In the evening, Marist got back in the pool to play Wagner College and lost 12-19. On Sunday morning, the team battled it out with Villanova and won by three points with a score of 12-9.
Within the first four minutes of the game on Sunday evening, Marist was dominating on offense against LaSalle. With five goals from junior center India Alter, the Red Foxes quickly took the lead. On defense, Marist senior goalie Marina Hyham blocked shots coming at her from every angle of the pool.
During the first period, the Red Foxes also saw two goals from freshman center Ella Baumgarten. Treading close to the net, Baumgarten was quick to the ball and hit the top shelf of the net with both opportunities.
During the second period, Marist continued to execute on offense against the La Salle Explorers. After La Salle got two goals during the second period, the Red Foxes gave it back with goals from senior utility Myriam Lizotte and freshman utility Victoria Padilla.
After a foul was called on La Salle, Lizotte got possession of the ball and swam it down the whole length of the pool herself. As she approached the goalie, she used her height to shoot into the top corner of the net and scored her second goal of the game.
With seven minutes left on the clock, Marist got a penalty shot against the Explorers. Taking the shot was Padilla. With the La Salle goalie centered in the pool, Padilla shot a rocket into the lower-left pocket of the net making the score 13-8.
The Explorers became more aggressive in the final period of the game with La Salle freshman Tatum Lomax scoring four goals. With three minutes left on the clock, La Salle was only three points down from Marist with a score of 13-10. As the time began to run out, Marist continued their passing game and took shot opportunities on the net when possible.
With seven seconds left in the game, freshman utility Madeline Schultz swam toward the center of the pool with the ball and shot into the left corner of the net to finish out the game. Earlier this week, Schultz was named the MAAC rookie of the week for the sixth time this season.
In the final second of the game, the La Salle goalie had possession of the ball, but knew it was too late to win. As the buzzer sounded, the Marist team cheered to celebrate their two-game winning streak on Sunday.
Next weekend, the Red Foxes will be playing another four games, with two at home on Saturday and two in Philadelphia on Sunday. On Saturday morning in the McCann Natatorium, Marist will look for redemption as they play Iona for the second week in a row. After that, the Red Foxes will come back at 4 p.m. to play against the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for the first time this season.
On Sunday, Marist will be on the road to play against Villanova and La Salle for the second time in two weeks. For the remainder of the season, the Red Foxes will play against other teams in the MAAC conference as they prepare for MAAC Championships. Their final regular conference game is scheduled against Wagner on April 16 and will take place at Marist.
Edited by Bridget Reilly
Photo Credit: Marist Athletics