VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania – The Marist water polo team picked up its 11^th and 12^th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference wins of the season with 12-6 and 12-5 victories over the Villanova Wildcats and Virginia Military Institute Keydets on Saturday.

With the victories, the Red Foxes have now won five straight games and stand at 19-15 overall with one game remaining in the regular season. The team has also swept the season series with every MAAC team except Wagner, who they lost 13-6 to on 3/24 with one meeting remaining.

SUMMARY AT VILLANOVA:

Marist opened the scoring with three unanswered goals by sophomore Justine Castro (2) and freshman Lauren Smith to take a 3-0 lead into the second quarter.

The Wildcats got on the board early in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 3-1 but the Red Foxes answered with goals by juniors Susan Cantoni and Grace Doerfler and freshman Aminadi Anorve to take a 6-1 lead into the half.

Doerfler extended the lead to 7-1 with a goal just 1:47 into the second half, before Villanova answered at the 5:49 mark to trim the deficit back to five. Marist rolled off five straight goals by junior Ariana Singer, freshman Anais Mathes (2), junior co-captain Katherine Tijerina and Smith and after three quarters it was 12-2.

The fourth quarter was all Wildcats as they scored four goals and held the Red Foxes scoreless but the deficit was too much and Marist emerged with the 12-6 win.

SUMMARY VS VMI:

The Keydets took an early lead with a goal 2:01 into the game but Tijerina answered for the Red Foxes to even the score roughly 44 seconds later. VMI regained the lead with an even strength score less than a minute later to regain the lead but again Marist answered with a man up goal by Castro with 3:07 left in the quarter. Doerfler gave the Red Foxes their first lead of the game at the 1:58 mark but it didn't last long as the Keydets tied the game 36 seconds later. With less than a minute left in the first, senior co-captain Diana Carballo put Marist back on top and after one period it was 4-3 Red Foxes.

VMI quickly tied the game with an even strength score 1:22 into the second but Marist rolled off two goals by Carballo and Singer to take a 6-4 lead heading into the half.

???????Mathes got the lone goal of the third quarter at the 4:36 mark and with just eight minutes remaining in the game, the Red Foxes held the 7-4 advantage.

To open the fourth quarter, Marist went on a 5-0 run on goals by sophomore Carolyn Gauvin, Smith (2) and Tijerina (2) to open a 12-4 lead with 1:54 left in the game. The Keydets answered with a goal 33 seconds later but again the deficit was too much and the Red Fox defense was too strong and the final buzzer sounded with Marist picking up the 12-5 win.

KEY STATS:

• Senior co-captain Jessica Hermosillo made 17 saves vs Villanova, just two shy of her career high set on 3/17 vs #21 San Jose State in a 6-5 (5 OT) loss and made 13 saves vs VMI
• The Red Foxes picked up multi-goal performances from six different players

UP NEXT:

Marist closes out the regular season vs #18 Wagner on Sunday (10:30 a.m.) at Villanova.