POUGHKEEPSIE, New York -- On a day that saw the Marist water polo team pick up its ninth and 10th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference wins of the season and celebrate the careers of seniors and co-captains Diana Carballo and Jessica Hermosillo and junior Caoihme Whitebloom, the Red Foxes also punched their ticket to the 2018 MAAC Championship and clinched their 15th straight postseason appearance with 11-8 and 17-5 wins vs the St Francis Brooklyn Terriers and Siena Saints respectively on Sunday at McCann Natatorium.

SUMMARY VS ST FRANCIS:

The Red Foxes opened the game with six straight goals from junior Grace Doerfler (2), sophomores Anais Mathes, Carolyn Gauvin and Lexi Puhl and Carballo to give themselves a 6-0 lead with 7:32 in the second quarter. 

The Terriers answered with a 4-0 run to trim the deficit down to two goals, before Gauvin gave Marist a 7-4 lead after the first half of play.

The two teams each scored one goal in the third quarter and equaled each other again in the fourth with three goals in the fourth with juniors Susan Cantoni and Katherine Tijerina (2) and sophomore Justine Castro and the Red Foxes emerged with the 11-8 win.

SUMMARY VS SIENA:

After a ceremony celebrating Carballo, Hermosillo and Whitebloom, Marist jumped out to an early lead from Castro. Less than a minute later, the Saints tied things up with a goal but the Red Foxes regained the lead, roughly two minutes later and went on a 6-0 over the next 6:50 to take a 7-1 lead with 4:05 left in the first half. Siena picked up its second goal at the 4:05 mark and Marist again answered with goals by Gauvin and Tijerina and after one half it was 9-2 in favor of the home team. 

The third quarter saw Marist score six goals from freshman Lauren Smith (3), Tijerina, Puhl and Castro and the Saints find the back of the net twice. The Red Foxes picked up two more goals in the final eight minutes from Carballo and Mathes and when the final buzzer sounded it was a 17-5 Marist victory. 

KEY STATS:

• The Red Foxes shot .792 (38-for-48) on the day, while Siena and St Francis shot a combined .265 (13-for-49)
• Marist converted 21% of its power play (3-for-14) chances and the Saints and Terriers converted 25% (3-for-14)

"Today as a whole was great" said head coach Chris Vidale. "You definitely got all the sides of water polo in the good, the bad and the ugly. We played St. Francis, had an early lead and were dominant in the beginning but then we decided to stop playing a little bit and when you do that at the Division 1 level you let teams back in...making the postseason is huge for the program. It keeps us viable and current in the water polo scene but it's pride. This program means so much to my athletes and to not be there when it's at home, it's good to be there and keep this streak running."

UP NEXT:

Marist is back in action on Saturday, April 14 at Villanova (3 PM), vs VMI (7:30 PM) and vs Wagner (10:30 a.m.) on Sunday.