April 26, 2009
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - They may have been the guests on the scoreboard but the Marist water polo team dominated Iona in its home pool Sunday, defeating the Gaels 11-7 at the McCann Natatorium to win the 2009 MAAC Water Polo Championship. The title is the Red Foxes' second in a row and third in four seasons. Marist is the first team in the history of the MAAC Water Polo League to win consecutive tournament titles. Senior Katelin McCahill (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) was named the 2009 MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after scoring three goals in the championship game. Junior Rachel Sunday (Carlisle, Pa.) also scored three goals.
Marist (18-13) got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter as Hilary Schroeder (Santa Barbara, Calif.) tallied both of the Red Foxes' goals in the first 3:45 of the game. Iona (22-8) got on the board with 3:58 left in the first as Mackenzie Mone found the back of the net. The Red Foxes went back up by two, 3-1, on Sunday's first goal of the day at the 3:41 mark. Iona added one more goal at the first quarter horn to make the score 3-2.
Iona's Amanda Brucia tied the game at 3-3 with a goal 1:11 into the second quarter. That would be the Gaels' last goal until the 0:59 mark of the third quarter. Marist scored six unanswered goals in a span of 12:24 of game play to go ahead 9-3. Sunday and McCahill each scored two goals during this stretch with Samantha Swartz (Harleysville, Pa.) and Angie Rampton (Simi Valley, Calif.) putting in a goal each. Iona ended the run with an Amanda Cody goal, making the score 9-4. McCahill scored her third goal of the game with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter, making the score 10-4. Iona tallied three goals in the fourth quarter but it would be enough to overcome Marist and goalie Jessica Getchius (Simi Valley, Calif.), who made 11 saves in the game.
Swartz was named to the MAAC All-Tournament team following the game, along with Andrea Dolnay of Saint Francis, Kelsey Rodgers and Sara Olguin of Wagner, and Amanda Brucia and Lauren Peterson of Iona.
Marist now waits to see who they will play in the 2009 NCAA Women's Water Polo Tournament, which will be played at the Campus Recreation Center on the campus of the University of Maryland on May 8-10.
