Staten Island, NY – For the Wagner Women's Water Polo team, the mission on Sunday was clear: beat VMI in the first game, and then knock off Marist by at least two goals, and the Seahawks would own the No. 1 seed in the April 27-28 MAAC Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships, with the winner gaining entry to the NCAA Championships. Folllowing a drama-filled day, the Seahawks prevailed, defeating VMI 10-4 before outlasting Marist 8-6 in overtime. 

Wagner ended up in a three-way tie for first place with Iona and Marist, and gained the No. 1 seed based on tiebreaker procedures, marking the Seahawks' first regular season MAAC Championship since 2009.

Having knocked off VMI 24-7 earlier in the season, Wagner had a chance to get most of the players on the team involved the second time around.

Jessica Burdge (Stockton, CA / St. Mary's) scored her 100^th goal of the season the day before in a win over Villanova. In the second quarter, Burdge scored her fifth goal of the game and 108^th goal of the season, which broke the Wagner single-season record of 107, set by Billy Hoelck in 2008.

The Burdge goal put Wagner up 9-1 in the second quarter. The Seahawks would add one more goal in the second half from Michelle Greenough (Davis, CA / Davis) and only surrender three to VMI, to win 10-4. Laura Karbach (Abington, PA / Germantown Academy) recorded 13 saves for the Seahawks, while only allowing four goals from the Keydets.

Karbach would come up big again in the second game against Marist, as the senior knew this was crucial for seeding in the MAAC Championships, two weekends from today.

In the first quarter of the second game, it was a battle of the goalies, as two Co-Defensive Players of the Year from 2012 were making incredible saves throughout the entire game. Karbach had four saves in the first and was countered by Marist's Rebecca Thomas who also had four.

Marist took the lead after the first quarter 1-0, on a goal from Yuriria Chavez. In the second, both teams showed their firepower. Lily Doerfler (Annapolis, MD / Broadneck) and Burdge scored back-to-back goals to make the score 2-1. After two straight goals from Marist, Megan Rodriguez (Danville, CA / San Ramon Valley) and Jess Lundgren (Queensland, Australia / Mountain Creek) were able to counter to put Wagner in the lead, 4-3. The Red Foxes would get a goal from Hannah Levien with under a minute left until halftime to tie the score  4-4.

The back-and-forth nature would continue in the second half, with both teams netting one goal in both the third and fourth quarters. Burdge scored her second goal of the game in the third quarter, making the score 5-4. Wagner then took the lead at the 7:18 mark in the fourth quarter when Stacy McGregor (Sinking Spring, PA / Wilson) scored off of an exclusion.

Marist would then counter, as Chavez added her second goal with 1:52 remaining. That goal would send the game to overtime, with the score tied, 6-6.

In the first of two overtime periods, Wagner would go ahead on the third goal from Burdge with 1:09 left. The Seahawks would go into the second overtime period up 7-6, in need of a two-goal win in order to win the tiebreaker for the MAAC Championship.

Wagner would get that second goal, with just 25 seconds left in second overtime period. After a Marist exclusion, sophomore Madeleine Brown (Sacramento, CA / Rio Americano), who came into the weekend with just five goals on the year, scored the goal that sent Wagner up by two, and provided the MAAC regular season Championship for the Seahawks.

With the 8-6 victory, Wagner earned its 25^th win of the season, tying a school record. The Seahawks will be the #1 seed in the MAAC Tournament, which starts on Saturday, April 27^th, and is hosted by Marist in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Wagner will battle the #4 seed Villanova, who Wagner beat 11-10 on Saturday, and 10-5 back on March 24^th. If the Green and White are able to get by the Wildcats, Wagner will face the winner of the Iona-Marist game on the following day, Sunday, April 28^th.

NOTES:

* Sophomore Jessica Burdge scored her 111th goal of the season against Marist, which is currently a school record. In the win over VMI, the Stockton, California native broke the single-season school record of 108 set by Billy Hoelck in 2008.

* Freshman Jess Lundgren now holds the Wagner College single season steals record, taking her 115th of the season. Lundgren beat out the former record, held by 2012 graduate Chelsea Beck from a season ago.

* Another single season school record was broken back on March 31st when freshman Megan Rodriguez recorded her 64th assist of the season against Marist. Six games later, the Danville, California native is up to 78 steals on the season.