NEW ROCHELLE, New York – Junior co-captain Katherine Tijerina's game winning goal with 1:07 left gave the Marist water polo team a 6-5 win vs the Villanova Wildcats on Sunday morning at Iona College.

The win marked the Red Foxes' sixth MAAC victory in seven games played this season.

SUMMARY:

Sophomore Justine Castro got Marist on the board with a goal just 40 seconds into the game off an assist from senior co-captain Diana Carballo. Just under five minutes later, Carballo found the back of the net of an assist from junior co-captain Katherine Tijerina and then sophomore Lexi Puhl extended the Red Foxes' lead to 3-0 after the opening eight minutes.

The second quarter proved to be all Wildcats, as Villanova held Marist scoreless and netted two even strength goals in the final five minutes of the period to send the game into the half with the Red Foxes holding a 3-2 advantage.

Less than a minute into the second half, the Wildcats tied the game on a powerplay goal. Marist answered just under a minute later when Carballo put home her second goal of the morning but the Red Fox lead didn't last long, as Villanova evened the score at 4-4 with a goal roughly eight seconds later. With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, Castro netted her second goal of the game but again the Wildcats answered, tying the game at 5-5 with 52 seconds left in the period.

The two teams entered the final eight minutes all even and put forth a tight defensive battle for more than half the final quarter until Tijerina from junior Susan Cantoni gave Marist the 6-5 lead with 67 seconds left in the game. Villanova looked to answer but the Red Foxes held on for the win.

KEY STATS:

• Marist outshot the Wildcats 21-16
• Villanova went 2-for-6 on the man advantage, while the Red Foxes finished 1-for-3

QUOTE:

"We have now faced every team in the conference once" said head coach Chirs Vidale. "This gives us a clear assessment of where we are leading into the final stretch of the season. Every team has given us something different and it has been good to see how we react and adjust to these situations. Moving forward it's time to just focus on what Marist water polo represents and what we do best. It's been fun to play everyone and learn from these situations but from here on out, it's about what we do and we need to focus in on how we control our fate as a group for the rest of the season."

UP NEXT:

Marist now has two weeks off from competition before hosting La Salle (Noon) and Iona (4:30 p.m.) on April 7 and St. Francis Brooklyn (Noon) and Siena (6 p.m.) on April 8 at McCann Natatorium.