TEMPE, Arizona – The #23 Red Foxes extended their win streak to three matches on Saturday morning with a 9-7 victory over the #22 Cal Baptist University Lancers at the ASU Invitation II. With the win, Marist stands at 6-10 (0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) while the Lancers drop to 17-6 (1-0 Golden Coast Conference).
Junior Amanda Amorosa led the Red Foxes with three goals and one assist on eight shots while freshman Katie Tijerina scored two goals and two assists on five shots to go along with one steal. As a team, Marist shot .257 (9-for-35) on the afternoon.
Senior Hannah Evans led Cal Baptist with three goals on four shots and senior Laura Kocsis scored two goals and one assist on nine shots with one steal. The Lancers shot .233 (7-for-30) as a team on the afternoon.
Senior Skyler Henry finished the match with seven goals against and 10 saves to go along with three steals.
Cal Baptist scored the lone goal in the first quarter with a tally by Evans unassisted at the 5:59 mark of the period to give the Lancers the 1-0 lead.
The Red Foxes answered back with a goal by Amorosa (unassisted) with 5:46 left in the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Junior Paizlee Dreyer gave the Lancers back the lead with 3:38 left in the quarter but again Marist answered, this time with a goal by freshman Susan Cantoni (assisted by senior Brooke Else) that tied the match before goals by sophomore Diana Carballo (unassisted) and Tijerina (assisted by junior Jocelyn McQuade) gave the Red Foxes the 4-2 lead at the half.
Marist continued their offensive momentum at the start of the third quarter, as both McQuade (assisted by Amorosa) and Amorosa (assisted by Tijerina) found the back of the net 3:19 into the period to give the Red Foxes a 6-2 lead. The Lancers got one goal back when Kocsis found the back of the net with 4:21 left in the frame and the two teams entered the fourth quarter with the score 6-3 in favor of the Red Foxes.
Evans trimmed the UC Baptist deficit to 6-4 with a goal 1:21 seconds into the fourth quarter but goals by Tijerina (unassisted) and Amorosa (Tijerina) put Marist ahead 8-4 with 5:19 remaining in the match. Both teams traded goals with junior Valeria Spezzaferri scoring for the Lancers and McQuade for the Red Foxes to make the score 9-5 with 3:48 left in the match. Down by four, UC Baptist trimmed the deficit to 9-7 off goals by Kocsis and Evans but the Red Fox defense proved to be too much as the final horn sounded with Marist emerging victorious 9-7.
Up next, the Red Foxes face off against the #13 University of the Pacific Tigers at 3:30 PM. In the first match of the season, Jan. 30, Marist lost to the Tigers 13-9 in the Michigan Invite tournament.
