POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – In a thrilling match up that came down to the final eight minutes, the Marist water polo team fell to the Wagner Seahawks 11-7 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship game in McCann Natatorium on Sunday.
With the loss, the Red Foxes' season officially comes to a close with an overall record of 20-14 (11-3 MAAC).
In her final collegiate game, senior co-captain Amanda Amorosa led Marist on the afternoon with two goals, two assists and one steal, while senior Nastassia McGlothlin had two goals and one assist to close out her college career. Senior co-captain Jocelyn McQuade finished with one goal and one assist in her last game as a Red Fox, sophomore Katherine Tijerina had one goal and one steal, sophomore Grace Doerfler finished with one goal and junior co-captain had one assist and three steals.
Junior Jessica Hermosillo was tremendous in net, finishing with 11 goals against and 11 saves, including numerous huge stops that kept the game tight through the first three quarters.
"This season combined my first season and my assistant coach Tamara's first season and it was fantastic" said head coach Chris Vidale. "We had three leaders that really produced and were agressive and showed what Marist water polo is all about. We had an overall group of people that learned how to play with each other in a short amount of time with two new coaches. We did a lot of things that Marist has never done being consistently ranked throughout the year and played ranked teams to competitive games. It's tough to get to the conference championship and not win but we should be proud of what we've done. It's been a productive and positive first year for myself and I hope for the team and am looking for many more."
For the fourth consecutive year, the MAAC Championship featured a Wagner Marist matchup so both teams came into the game fired up and ready.
The Seahawks opened the scoring 1:07 into the game when Kimberly Watson put one home to give Wagner the early lead. Marist responded 43 seconds later when McQuade found the back of the net on the man advantage. The goal seemed to ignite the Red Foxes as they reeled off three more goals from McGlothlin, Amorosa and Tijerina to take a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Wagner responded in the second with goals from Watson Erica Hardy and Watson to tie it up with 3:48 left in the first half before Amorosa gave the Red Foxes back the lead 38 seconds later. Lacey Anderson found the back of the net for the Seahawks with just over a minute left in the second quarter and the two teams entered the half tied at 5-5.
Jacqui Sjogren gave Wagner its first lead since 6:48 left in the opening quarter with a goal 42 seconds into the second half but Doerfler responded for Marist just over a minute later and again the two teams were tied. A quick goal by the Seahawks regained the lead when Anderson scored with 5:31 left in the third but again the Red Foxes responded when McGlothlin tipped in a rebound in front of the goal to even the score at 7-7.
With eight minutes left and the two teams tied at 7-7 it was anyone's game. However, Wagner was not to be denied the victory as they scored four unanswered goals and locked down on defense holding Marist scoreless to secure the 11-7 victory.
