SANTA BARBARA, California – Following a tough 11-5 loss vs the #9 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, the Marist water polo team bounced back to secure a hard fought 10-9 win over the Sonoma State Seawolves on Sunday afternoon at the UCSB Winter Invite.
With the results, the Red Foxes wrap up their first week of competition with an overall record of 2-2.
“It was great competing out west this weekend” said head coach Chris Vidale. “We got to see where we are and where we need to be in order to be successful come conference play. The goal is to get a little better every day and this weekend has set the foundation for our success.”
In the opening match of the day, the Red Foxes were unable to find the back of the net in the opening quarter vs. the host #9 UC Santa Barabara Gauchos and fell behind 2-0. Despite bringing the deficit to within one twice in the beginning of the second period, Marist was unable to hold off the UC Santa Barbara attack and after two periods it was 7-2 in favor of the hosts.
In the third period, the Red Foxes were able to find a little offensive momentum by equaling the Gauchos three goals with three of their own and with eight minutes remaining it was 10-5 in favor of the home team.
Down by five goals with eight minutes to go, Marist was unable to find the back of the net in the final period and as time expired the final score read 11-5 in favor of the Gauchos.
Coming off the hard fought loss, Marist looked to end their opening weekend with a win vs Sonoma State. The first quarter proved to be exactly what the Red Foxes needed as goals by Katherine Tijerina, Nastassia McGlothlin and two goals by Amanda Amorosa gave Marist the 4-3 advantage after one period.
The second quarter proved to be all Red Foxes as goals by Amorosa and Ariana Singer went unanswered by the opposition and as the two teams headed into the half the score was 6-3 in favor of Marist.
Goals by Amorosa and Carolyn Gauvin in the third quarter extended the Red Fox lead to 8-4 behind stellar play by freshman goalie Carsen Horvatich who surrendered just one goal in the third quarter.
With just eight minutes remaining in the game, Marist held a four goal advantage. An offensive outburst by Sonoma State found the four goals needed to even the score, however a final period tally by Tijerina secured the victory for the Red Foxes as the final whistle sounded with Marist emerging victorious by a final score of 10-9.
Up next, Marist has a week off before returning to action at the Brown Bruno Classic in Providence, RI. The Red Foxes will play Indiana University and Hartwick College on Saturday, Feb. 4th and Bucknell University on Sunday, Feb. 5th.
