Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's water polo team claimed two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) victories against the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and #23 LIU at the Spiro Sports Center on Sunday.
#15 Wagner (22) vs. VMI (11)
The contest began with a sprint victory by junior
Skye Nankervis before Seahawks put a stamp on the contest as they outscored the Keydets 10-1 in the opening frame. The Seahawks had six different goal scorers as fifth-year senior
Malia Josephson recorded a hat trick,
Skye Nankervis recorded two goals while junior
Abbey Simshauser, sophomore
Mar Navarro, and freshman
Carlota Alonso and
Casey Taylor tallied one goal each.
Wagner carried the momentum into the second frame as they outscored VMI 5-1 behind two goals from sophomore
Andrea Arias and one goal each from
Casey Taylor,
Sofia Diaz Alvarez, and
Abbey Simshauser. The Green & White took a 15-2 advantage into the intermission.
Wagner outscored VMI 6-3 in the third quarter as
Andrea Arias tallied two goals while
Sofia Diaz Alvarez and sophomore
Grace Coleman got on the scoresheet. Senior
Pip Nash scored a goal as the time expired to end the quarter, giving Wagner a 21-7 lead entering the final stanza.
The Keydets went on to outscore the Seahawks 6-1 in the final frame but the lead Wagner built in the first half was too much to overcome as Wagner claimed a 22-11 victory.
Andrea Arias catapulted the Wagner attack with four goals while
Sofia Diaz Alvarez and
Malia Josephson each recorded hat tricks. Diaz Alvarez also dished out two assists and recorded two steals. Senior goalkeeper
Mikaela Wells claimed her second win of the season in as many starts as she stopped eight shots in the victory.
#15 Wagner (17) vs. #23 LIU (4)
The Seahawks extended their winning streak to seven games with a convincing win over LIU, who entered the contest unbeaten in conference play.
The Seahawks opened the contest on a 4-0 run when
Malia Josephson netted the first two goals before
Andrea Arias added two more of her own. The Green & White took a 4-1 lead into the second period. Josephson tallied the lone goal for Wagner in the second quarter as both teams scored just one goal each in the second stanza, Wagner took a 5-2 lead into the halftime intermission.
Wagner put a stamp on the contest as they outscored LIU 5-1 to open up a 10-3 lead.
Andrea Arias tallied a hat trick in the third quarter while
Malia Josephson scored twice. Both players had five goals each entering the final stanza and combined for all 10 of the Seahawks goals.
The Seahawks continued their momentum in the final stanza as they outscored the Sharks 7-1 in the final eight minutes as
Carlota Alonso found the back of the net four times in the stanza.
Malia Josephson tallied her sixth goal of the contest while
Casey Taylor and
Abbey Simshauser each got on the score sheet.
Along with her six goals,
Malia Josephson also tallied four assists and two steals while
Andrea Arias added six goals of her own to go along with one assist and two steals.
Abbey Simshauser tallied one goal to go along with three assists and three steals. Senior goalkeeper
Kristina Bell stopped six shots on 10 faced in the contest to go along with three steals.
The Seahawks extend their unbeaten streak at the Spiro Sports Center to eight games dating back to February 24, 2018. Wagner also improve to 8-3 against nationally ranked opponents.
Wagner also improves to 7-0 in conference play this season.
Wagner will continue conference play next weekend when they travel to Siena on Saturday, April 2 for a 1:00 P.M. contest before closing out the day at Iona for an 8:00 P.M. contest.
