Women's Water Polo | March 31, 2023

LEXINGTON, Va. – The La Salle women's water polo team will head down to VMI to face three more MAAC opponents this weekend looking to get back into the win column.
 
The Explorers will kick things off against Siena on Saturday, Apr. 1 at 11:20 a.m. followed by a rematch with Iona at 6 p.m. in the teams' first official conference matchup this season. The Blue & Gold return to the pool on Sunday, Apr. 2 at 11:20 a.m. to finish off the weekend against Marist. All games will stream live on ESPN+.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• La Salle enters the contest at 11-12 on the season and 1-4 in conference play most recently suffering a heart-breaking 9-8 loss to Villanova at home.
• Earlier that weekend La Salle dominated VMI in a 17-6 victory to mark its first conference win of the season.
• Francesca Co' leads the scoring efforts for the Explorers with a team-high 74 goals. She also leads the team defensively with 54 steals and 20 blocks.
• Madelyn Koerper plays a critical role in the Explorers' offense with 47 goals this season. The graduate student also leads La Salle in Exclusions drawn with 29.
• Casey Malone leads the sprint efforts winning 13 this season.
• Emma Gurasich has dominated in the net with 148 saves on the season adding 11 assists and 18 steals.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS:

• Siena enters the contest at 4-16 on the season with an 0-5 mark in conference play.
• The Saints are currently on a nine-game skid having most recently suffered an 0-3 weekend at home against Marist, St. Francis Brooklyn and Mount St. Mary's.
• Siena's last win of the season came on Mar. 5 in a 12-9 victory over Gannon at the Harvard Invitational.
• Parker Thomas leads the scoring for the Saints this season with 39 goals. Grace Boeve and Stella Chopskie have played an important part in the offense with 27 and 20 goals, respectively.
• Thomas joins Sydney Jones as the team's leaders in assists with 10 each.
• Boeve has proven to be an all-around player serving as the leading defender with a team-high 22 steals and three field blocks.
• Anna Mossakowski has played 17 games in net recording over 364 minutes this season. She has made 67 saves while adding five assists and 11 steals.
• This will be the first matchup this season between the Explorers and Saints.

SCOUTING THE GAELS:

• Iona enters the weekend at 11-8 overall and 3-2 in MAAC play.
• The Gaels most recently defeating Mount St. Mary's in an 11-8 win to bounce back from a difficult 15-16 overtime loss to Marist earlier that day.
• Jordon Van Reeken leads the offense for the Gaels with a team-high 63 goals.
• Karsyn Stewart joins the offensive efforts with a team-high 17 assists on the season.
• Lola Trujillo and Jenna Handall have both been strong on the offensive side of the pool with 23 and 22 goals, respectively.
• Van Reeken also leads the Gaels defensively with a team-high 31 steals and six blocks.
• Lilly Morris serves as the primary goalie with over 334 minutes across 14 games in the goal. She has a 40.6% save percentage making 84 saves while adding five assists and 16 steals.
• This will be the second meeting between the Explorers and Iona this season, but the first to count toward conference play. Iona previously defeated the Explorers 11-9 at the Princeton Invitational on Feb. 24.

SCOUTING THE RED FOXES:

• Marist enters the contest at 16-8 on the season and 5-0 in conference play having won its last six-straight contests.
• Most recently, Marist defeated both Siena and Iona. The Red Foxes battled through overtime against the Gaels for the tight 16-15 win. The game was highlighted by a dominant performance from Viktoria Orlova with seven goals. The Red Foxes went on to down Siena in a convincing 19-11 win.
• The Red Foxes will face La Salle for the first time this season and are undefeated against the Explorers in the last 10 meetings between the teams.