MANOA, Hawaii – The #23 Marist water polo team dropped its first two games of the 2018 season, falling 12-7 to the #22 Loyola Marymount University Lions and 17-2 to the #4 University of California Berkley Golden Bears in the Rainbow Invite at the University of Hawaii on Saturday.

SUMMARY VS LMU:

The Lions jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening quarter behind three even strength goals but junior Susan Cantoni put the Red Foxes on the board off a power play goal with 38 seconds left in the opening frame to make it 3-1 after eight minutes.

LMU again opened the quarter with three unanswered goals to extend the lead to 6-1, before Cantoni again scored with less than a minute in the frame to send the teams into the half with a 6-2 score in favor of the Lions.

For the third consecutive quarter, LMU opened with three straight goals and then extended the lead to 10-2 off a goal with 3:09 left in the frame. Freshman Aminadi Anorve cut the deficit to 10-3 off her first collegiate goal with 2:24 remaining but the Lions answered just over a minute later. Freshman Lauren Smith netted her first career goal with 40 seconds left in the quarter and after three periods it was 11-4 LMU.

Smith then notched her second of the game just 1:31 into the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 11-5. The Lions answered on a penalty shot 22 seconds later and then it was all Marist as Doerfler and Cantoni found the back of the net. However, it wasn't enough as the final buzzer sounded with LMU emerging victorious 12-7.

KEY STATS VS LMU:

• LMU outshot the Red Foxes 25-19
• Both teams converted on 4 power play opportunities
• The Lions finished with a .480 shooting percentage to Marist's .368
• The Red Foxes drew 10 kickouts to LMU's 8

GAME NOTES VS LMU

• The matchup was the first between the Red Foxes and LMU since 2015 (6-4 Lions win)
• Lauren Smith & Aminadi Anorve scored their first career goals in their first career game
• Doefler & Cantoni lead with 4 shots each

SUMMARY VS CAL:

The Golden Bears opened the game with five goals in the opening period to take the early lead.

Two quick scores by Cal in the first 1:41 of the second quarter made it 7-0, before Doerfler found the back of the net to get Marist on the board at 7-1.

The Golden Bears added two more quick goals in the opening minute of the second half and tacked on another four later in the period to give themselves the 13-1 advantage after three.

After two quick goals by Cal in the opening 1:32 of the fourth quarter, Smith again found the back of the net to make it back-to-back games with goals to open her college career and bring it to 15-2 Golden Bears. Cal added two more goals in the final minutes and emerged with the 17-2 win.

KEY STATS VS CAL:

• The Golden Bears outshot the Red Foxes 30-21
• Cal finished with a .567 shooting percentage to Marist's .095
• The Red Foxes drew 7 kickouts to the Golden Bear's 5

GAME NOTES VS CAL:

• For the second straight game, Doerfler finished tied with a team high 4 shots

QUOTE:

"This team is learning how to create and compete at that next level" said head coach Chris Vidale. "Our first six games this season are against nationally ranked teams and that is going to be a key component to our success this year. Today we lost our first game by learning some hard lessons but the key word is learning. The box score against Cal showed all the positives that came out of that game. We never stopped playing, never stopped competing and if we can do that against the #4 team in the country, we can do that against anyone we play this season."

UP NEXT:

Marist wraps up the Rainbow Invite on Sunday when they square off against the host #6 University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine at 3:15 PM.