MAAC Release
Score Sheet

Poughkeepsie, NY – The #19 Wagner (25-8, 10-2 MAAC) women's water polo team bested Marist (20-15, 11-1) 10-8 to capture its second consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship.

The Seahawks defeated the Red Foxes a season ago in the title contest by a score of 9-7.

The title game was a tight contest throughout as neither team could grab a comfortable lead at any point of the game.

Marist jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as the Red Foxes won the opening sprint followed by a quick score from Jessica Hamby before 20 seconds had been played. The Red Foxes lead was short lived as senior co-captain Jessica Burdge (Stockton, CA/ St. Mary's) found the 2015 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Jess Lundgren (Queensland, Australia/ Mountain Creek) who delivered the opening score for the Seahawks with 6:50 remaining in the first quarter to tie the game at 1-1. Wagner would tally just eleven seconds later to take their first lead of the contest as Megan Rodriguez (Danville, CA/ San Ramon Valley) dumped the ball into junior center Lily Doerfler (Annapolis, MD/ Broadneck) who found the back of the net.

Marist responded with two strong opportunities to score but sophomore goalie and 2015 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Emily Riddle (Edmonton, Alberta/ Dr. E.P. Scarlett) made a huge block on a strong skip shot and the Seahawks got a little help from the cage as the Red Foxes second scoring chance drilled the post.

Phenomenal ball movement on a man-up opportunity led to a Rodriguez goal off an assist from Burdge to give the Green & White a 3-1 advantage with 2:53 left in the first stanza. Marist answered with two late goals in the quarter to knot the game at three. The Red Foxes scored the first goal on a power play with 25 seconds left then found the back of the net once more as Hannah Levien stole the ball and scored on a breakaway with five seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Seahawk defense proved up to the challenge throughout the game as Riddle made multiple big saves in the second period to blank the Red Foxes none bigger than her block on a rip to the upper right hand corner with only seconds left In the half.  Wagner would rattle the cage for two scores in the second quarter as both came off steals. Lundgren had a steal out front and drove the pool before being fouled for a five meter shot attempt. Burdge would step in to take the attempt as she whizzed the ball by the goalies right arm. Michelle Greenough (Davis, CA/ Davis) came up with a steal that led to Burdge goal as freshman Elise Begg (Newbury Park, CA/ Newbury) beat the Red Foxes goalie Skylar Henry to the ball and passed to Burdge who dropped in a lob shot to give the Seahawks the 5-3 lead at halftime.

Rodriguez opened the scoring in the third period as her shot was tipped by the goalie but still had enough muster to cross the line with 7:04 on the clock to stretch the Green & White lead to 6-3. Marist would respond quickly as Anna Lena Hathaway found the back of the net followed by a man-up score from Jessica Hamby to cut Wagner's lead to 6-5.

The Seahawks set up a nice play that ended in a Lundgren score off an assist from Greenough with 2:35 left in the third quarter. Wagner's defense pushed Marist away from the net on multiple scoring chances as the Red Foxes would commit two shot clock violations. Marist tallied with 19 seconds left in the third as Allison Hamby found the back of the net as the score read 7-6 after three quarters.

Doerfler made herself available after jockeying for position in front of the net and delivered on a quick strike off an assist from Rodriguez.  Jessica Hamby scored as she also had excellent position in front of the net to bring the score to 8-7 with 5:43 left. The Seahawks defense held strong as they received back-to-back exclusions with four minutes left in the game but stopped Marist's scoring chances.

Begg rattled the cage with 2:54 left in the fourth and final quarter which proved to be the game winner. Marist added a goal 31 seconds later to bring the score to 9-8 but Lundgren tallied off an assist from senior co-captain Rachel Burns (Auckland, New Zealand/ Diocesan) with 2:10 left in the game to bring the score to 10-8.

Wagner was able to kill the final two minutes and claim its second consecutive MAAC championship.

The Seahawks have now amassed three consecutive seasons of at least 25 wins.

With the win the Green & White have automatically qualified for the 2015 NCAA Women's Water Polo Tournament. The Seahawks will find out their seed and opponent during tomorrow's selection show which is slated for 8:00 p.m.

Seahawk Goals
Jess Lundgren 3
Jessica Burdge 2
Lily Doerfler 2
Megan Rodriguez 2
Elise Begg 1

All-Tournament Team
MVP: Megan Rodriguez - Wagner
Lily Doerfler - Wagner
Jess Lundgren - Wagner
Julie Conrath - Villanova
Taylor Silva - Iona
Skylar Henry - Marist
Jessica Hamby - Marist


Highlights


Head Coach Chris Radmonovich's Post Game Interview


Note: Jess Lundgren's three goal performance brought her season total to 115 which ties the Seahawk program record of Jessica Burdge for most goals in a single season.

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