Women's Water Polo | February 10, 2023

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The La Salle women's water polo team will travel to Bucknell to face three opponents in the Bucknell Invitational this weekend.
 
The Explorers will first take on St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. then will return to the pool on Sunday, Feb. 12 to face Mercyhurst at 9:15 a.m. and Saint Francis (Pa.) at 4:45 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• La Salle returns to the pool following a 2-2 weekend at the Bruno Classic. The Explorers opened the weekend with a 10-4 loss to #25 Brown before recording a 13-3 victory over Gannon. La Salle went on to defeat Saint Francis (Pa.) 9-6 before falling to #19 Harvard 18-7.
• Francesca Co' and Emma Gurasich led the Explorers with their performances over the weekend earning MAAC honors.
• Co' recorded 10 goals across the four games including one five-goal game and one hat trick. Her performance earned her MAAC Offensive Player of the Week.
• Gurasich recorded a 15-save game setting the program's single-game record for saves in a game, a mark that she tied at 14 last season. Overall, the senior made 28 saves on the weekend earning MAAC's Defensive Player of the Week honor.
• Veteran Madelyn Koerper tallied the second-most goals on the team with six across the four games.
• Shanna Zuanich drew a team-high five exclusions over the weekend.

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS:

• St. Francis Brooklyn will open up its 2023 season against the Explorers.
• The Terriers enter the game coming off a 9-20 season last year including a 4-12 mark in conference play.
• The Terriers faced the Explorers three times last season with La Salle bringing home the victory in all three games winning by as many as a margin of nine in the first matchup and a margin by four in each of the last two meetings.
• The teams' most recent meeting was Apr. 2, 2022 where La Salle took home the 16-12 win. La Salle scored an early goal answered by two more from the Terriers before six unanswered goals from the Explorers changed the momentum and put the game out of reach.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS:

• Mercyhurst enters the weekend at 0-2 dropping its first two games of the season against Villanova and Mount St. Mary's. The Lakers will take on Mount St. Mary's once more to start the invitational
• Sakura Gavin and Hanna Good lead the scoring for the Lakers with three goals each. Both added one assist for a team-high four points.
• Molly Langridge and Panna Mozbauer lead the assist efforts for the season with two each.
• Rachel Vlieststra led the defensive efforts with six steals.
• Mozbauer clocked 24 minutes in the cage making seven saves and swiping two balls.
• The Explorers won the last two matchups with Mercyhurst last season in convincing fashion scoring at least 20 goals in each contest.

SCOUTING THE RED FLASH:

• Saint Francis (Pa.) enters the competition at 1-4 after recording its only win against Santa Clara in a single-point advantage, 10-9.
• This will be the second meeting between the Red Flash and the Explorers. La Salle came out on top in the meeting last weekend 9-6.
• Senior Taylor Halbauer and Olay led the Red Flash with two goals in the contest.
• Emese Szucs added a goal in the game and ranks second for the Red Flash on the season so far with six goals across five games.
• Freshman Caylah Olay leads all Red Flash players this season with eight goals.