COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Senior captain Desiree Desaulniers (Orlando, Fla.) scored four goals and Shelby Rinker (Lansdale, Pa.) added a pair, but it was not enough as the Marist water polo team fell to #15 UC San Diego at the Terrapin Invitational, hosted by the University of Maryland.
Anna-Lena Hathaway (Pasadena, Calif.) scored her first career goal in the second quarter and Elise Humphries (Anaheim, Calif.) played the first half in goal and made four saves. Rebecca Thomas (Cape Town, South Africa) made seven saves in the second half.
The Red Foxes pulled within one at 8-7 with 1:03 left in the second quarter on Hathaway's goal, but UC San Diego scored twice in the final 60 seconds to take a three goal lead at halftime.
Desaulniers' fourth goal again cut the Marist deficit to three with 4:50 left in the game, but the Red Foxes could not score another one the rest of the way.
"Overall, this was a good start for our program against three very tough teams in the 20th, 15th and 8th ranked teams in the country," Marist head coach Ashleigh Huckins said. "Our offense was able to come together with some pivotal possessions today and we will leave with plenty of game film to work on our mistakes."
The team will make their first of two west coast trips when they head to California to play a single game against UC San Diego on Feb. 10. The next two days, they Red Foxes will play in UC San Diego's tournament, the Triton Invitational.
