March 21, 2010
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist women's water polo team split its pair of games on Saturday against the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) and #12 Hartwick on Sunday at the 2010 Marist Invitational in the McCann Center Natatorium. The Red Foxes defeated NYAC 8-4, but fell to the Hawks 8-6.
In the Red Foxes first contest of the day against NYAC, Marist held the visitors scoreless in the second half as senior Jessica Getchius (Simi Valley, Calif.) tallied eight saves in the third and fourth quarters and 10 over the entire match.
Marist jumped out to an early lead 47 seconds into the match as freshman Shelby Rinker (Lansdale, Pa.) scored etched the first tally in the contest. NYAC scored two of the last three goals in the quarter as the visitors took a 3-2 lead at the end of the period as a goal was scored as time expired in the stanza.
The teams went into halftime knotted at four. Marist opened the second quarter with consecutive goals by junior Agnes Konopka (Simi Valley, Calif.) at the 7:22 mark, while sophomore Desiree Desaulniers (Orlando, Fla.) scored her only goal of the match with 6:35 remaining in the half.
In the second half, Marist scored four straight goals. The stretch was kicked off by junior Kristen Zepeda (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.) goals that were scored 1:17 seconds apart.
Rinker and Zepeda had three steals a piece, but the Red Foxes were led by four takeaways by Robyn Crabtree (Cutler Bay, Fla.) with four. Desaulniers drew two ejections in the contest.
Against the Hawks, Hartwick got out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. The Red Foxes cut the deficit to one at 3-2, on an Emily St. Omer Roy (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) tally. She finished the match with two goals and one steal. The Red Foxes trailed by two at halftime as senior Hillary Schroeder (Santa Barbara, Calif.) scored with two seconds remaining in the half.
In the second half, Marist got as close as one on two occasions. Senior Samantha Swartz (Harleysville, Pa.) made the score 5-4 at the 1:55 into the third, while St. Omer Roy made the score 6-5 with 5:21 to go in the frame.
Swartz tallied four steals against Hartwick, while Getchius made seven saves in the match.
Marist will return to the pool on Saturday, March 27 when it takes on Harvard at the McCann Center Natatorium. The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m. It will be the final non-conference match before the team starts conference play on April 3.
