LOUDONVILLE, New York -- The Marist water polo team opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play this weekend against the Iona Gaels (9 a.m.) and St Francis Terriers (4:30 p.m.) on Saturday and Siena Saints (10:30 a.m.) and La Salle Explorers (3 p.m.) on Sunday at Siena in Loudonville, NY.

The Red Foxes currently stand at 7-10 overall and are riding a streak of good form that has seen them win five of their last seven games.

LAST TIME OUT:

The Red Foxes are coming off an excellent weekend at the Indiana Classic last Saturday and Sunday where they beat the Santa Clara Broncos 11-7, the Washington and Jefferson Presidents 13-2 the #T13 Hartwick Hawks 15-14 and the Cal Lutheran Regals 5-3, before falling to the host #T10 Indiana Hoosiers 10-3. 

DOUBLE NATIONAL RANKINGS:

Marist returned to the national rankings, picking up appearances in two national polls with a #23 ranking in the USA Water Polo National Rankings and the Collegiate Water Polo Association Week 7 poll respectively. 

The rankings mark the ninth and 10th times the Red Foxes have been included in a national poll, having previously been ranked #23 in the CWPA's Preseason and Week 1 Polls, #12 in the USA Water Polo National Collegiate Rankings three weeks ago, #24 in the CWPA Week 2 Poll, #21 in the USA Water Polo National Collegiate Rankings two weeks ago, #24 in the CWPA Week 3 Poll, #T24 in the CWPA Week 4 Poll and #25 in the CWPA Week 5 Poll.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Senior goalie and co-captain Jessica Hermosillo was named the MAAC water polo Defensive Player of the Week the conference announced on Wednesday.

The award is the first of Hermosillo's career and third of the season for the program after junior Grace Doerfler and freshman Lauren Smith were named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week on Jan. 25.

Hermosillo went 4-1 at the Indiana Classic and made 37 saves to go along with a .552 save percentage. She made a season high 11 saves in the Red Foxes' 9-7 win over Santa Clara, 7 saves in a 13-2 win over Washington & Jefferson, 8 saves in Marist's 15-14 win over #T13 Hartwick and 8 saves at #T10 Indiana. 

SCOUTING THE GAELS:

Iona comes into the weekend at 3-17 overall and are coming off a 1-5 weekend last Saturday and Sunday at the Wolverine Invite where they beat Azusa Pacific 9-7 and lost to Bucknell 6-5, #19 Cal State Northridge 10-6, #9 Michigan 17-3 and #17 Long Beach State 8-4. 

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS:

St Francis enters the weekend at 2-7 overall and are coming off a 8-7 loss at La Verne on Sunday. 

SCOUTING THE SAINTS:

Siena comes into the weekend at 1-10 overall and are coming off a 7-5 loss vs Brown and 15-6 loss at #21 Harvard last weekend.

SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

La Salle enters the weekend 0-4 overall and are coming off a 14-10 loss at St Francis (PA) on Feb 18th. 

HOW TO FOLLOW:

Live stats will be available vs Iona, vs St Francis, at Siena and vs La Salle. Fans can also follow @MaristWP on Twitter for in game updates.

UP NEXT:

Following the MAAC opening weekend, Marist will travel to Los Angeles, CA for the Loyola Marymount Invitational where they will play Harvard (1:30 p.m.) and Princeton (7:45 p.m.) on Friday and  San Jose State (1:30 p.m.) and Cal Baptist (7:45 p.m.) on Saturday.