Women's Water Polo | March 9, 2019
LEXINGTON, Va. –Women's water polo recorded their first conference win in program history on Saturday. In thrilling fashion, the Explorers pulled out a 13-12 triumph over St. Francis Brooklyn—their second win over the Terriers this season, but their first in conference play. They also fell to nationally-ranked Marist 24-5 earlier in the day.
Marist 24, La Salle 5
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Quickly after the start of the game, La Salle drew first blood courtesy of a strike from sophomore Sarah DeFusco. Marist quickly responded with three goals.
- DeFusco was quickly on the board thereafter, capitalizing from a power play to bring her team within one. With the score at 3-2, the Red Foxes reacted well and closed out the quarter on a three-goal run.
- Marist controlled the second quarter 5-1 and swept the third 7-0. With the score at 18-3 entering the fourth, the Explorers tallied twice but the Red Fox hit back for six.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
La Salle 13, St. Francis Brooklyn 12
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The game began as a back-and-forth affair. The Terriers struck first before Linden responded; when St. Francis found the net again, Linden was there to even the affair a second time in the early going.
- Almost two minutes had passed before another goal for the Terriers pushed them ahead. DeFusco struck back, St. Francis pulled ahead again, and then La Salle broke the parrying by striking twice to take the lead. The Terriers would get another goal back on the power play to end the first frame tied at 5-5.
- The second quarter commenced with a St. Francis, which junior Stephanie Morales promptly answered with a goal of her own. Locked at 6-6, the Terriers went on a run of four goals over the second and third quarters to jump ahead in the first major move of the game.
- Not to be outdone, the Explorers showed their grit with an impressive answer. Three goals from junior Katelynn Kubo and sophomores Jillian Delisle and DeFusco pulled La Salle back to finish the third. They then tied the game to start the fourth on a Linden finish.
- St. Francis got back on the board from a five-meter strike, before the Explorers again stretched ahead from Kubo and freshman Madelyn Koerper. Although the Terriers would tie things with three minutes remaining, Koerper came back twenty seconds later and won things for La Salle.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Two Explorers had hattricks on the night: Kubo and Linden. DeFusco and Koerper followed them with two each.
- DeFusco also added two assists, but she didn't have the high in points. Nor did Kubo, who also had an assist. Rather it was Delisle—one goal, but also six assists—for seven points at the end of things.
- Notably, Koerper paced the team in exclusions earned with six—four more than any other Explorer. DeFusco led the way with three steals. Linden, with her goals, also contributed defensively with two steals and a team-high two blocks.
- In net, Fermaintt tallied nine saves against 21 shots for a save percentage of 42.9%. She also launched attacks effectively, marking them with two assists.
COACH'S THOUGHTS
- Head coach Tom Hyham reacted to the stunning win over the Terriers, while also thinking of what's to come: "That was one of the most resilient group of players I have ever coached. The ladies faced huge adversity being down by 5 goals in the third quarter and didn't let it phase them negatively. The MAAC conference is fairly wide open this year and it will likely be a dog fight to conference championships."
UP NEXT
- La Salle has another day of conference rivals to face on Sunday. In the morning, they take on Iona at 9 a.m. Later, they'll challenge hosts VMI at 4:30 p.m., which will be aired on ESPN+.
