MAAC Player of the Week Release
CWPA Week 12 Poll
Brooklyn & Poughkeepsie, NY – The #15 Wagner women's water polo team will wrap up the regular season this weekend with three conference contests.
Last Time Out
The Seahawks claimed three victories last weekend, highlighted by a 19-10 victory over Iona on Sunday, April 10 at the Spiro Sports Center on senior day.
On Saturday, April 9, the Seahawks defeated Villanova, 15-7, and La Salle, 21-11. After the three victories last weekend, the Seahawks moved to 13-0 in conference play and winners of its last 12 contests.
Seahawks Remain #15
For the eleventh consecutive week, the Green & White remain the highest ranked east coast club in the poll and the highest ranked Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) team in the top-25.
The Seahawks are one of three MAAC teams in the poll for the tenth consecutive week, joining #23 LIU and Marist who remains at #25.
After checking in at #23 in the CWPA preseason poll, Wagner moved up to #17 in the week one poll before moving up to #14 in week two before staying there until week six where Wagner was pushed back one spot to #15. At #15, Wagner defeated three teams who received national recognition in the week six poll at the Harvard Invitational on March 5 and March 6 and moved up to #14. The past four weeks, Wagner has checked in at #15.
Conference Success
The Seahawks are sporting an 89-5 record since 2014 in conference play and enter the last weekend of the regular season with a 13-0 mark. The 2014 season was the first of six consecutive MAAC Championships for Wagner. Prior to the run beginning in 2014, the Seahawks appeared in the MAAC Championship game 2011, 2012, and 2013 but fell to Iona all three times.
The Seahawks have appeared in 13 MAAC Championship games while claiming a conference leading nine titles. Prior to the 2021 season, either Wagner, Marist, or Iona has appeared in every championship since 2003 and those three schools are the only three to ever capture a title.
In 2016, 2017, and 2018 Wagner went unbeaten in conference play as the Seahawks went 12-0 in 2016 and 14-0 in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Wagner finished the conference schedule with a 14-1 record and a 2-0 record in 2020 as the season was cut short due to COVID-19.
The Seahawks last conference loss came in the 2019 regular season finale on a forfeit against Marist. Before that forfeit, Wagner's last MAAC defeat came 1,464 days before on April 11, 2015, against the Red Foxes.
This weekend, the Seahawks have an opportunity to wrap up the regular season title for the seventh time in the last nine seasons after the 2020 season was cut short and Wagner opting out in 2021.
Bell And Nankervis Earn MAAC Weekly Honors
Senior
Kristina Bell and junior
Skye Nankervis were tabbed Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week, respectively, the conference announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Bell is the only goalkeeper in program history to claim six Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same season as she passed former Seahawk Emily Riddle, who claimed five in 2017 on her way to winning MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
This past weekend, the senior goalkeeper claimed three victories in three starts while stopping 27 shots on 54 faced. The Atascadeo, CA native held a .500 save percentage along with two steals. She was honored on Sunday, April 10, at the Spiro Sports Center along with four classmates on senior day.
This season, Bell has won 26 out of 29 starts while sporting a .525 save percentage to go along with 197 saves. She also has 12 steals on the season.
Nankervis found the back of the net nine times on 12 shots while dishing out three assists in three victories this past weekend. The Sydney, Australia native won 11 out of 12 sprint attempts while scoring six goals against La Salle.
Nankervis has won 87 out of 101 sprints this season, a .861 winning percentage. The junior has scored 44 goals and dished out 39 assists as she also leads the Seahawks with 56 steals.
A Look At The Standings
Wagner remains at the top of the MAAC standings with a 13-0 mark in conference play. LIU comes in right behind Wagner as the Sharks are sporting a 10-1 record, LIU's lone conference loss of the season came at the Spiro Sports Center on March 27. LIU enters the weekend winners of the last seven contests. The defending MAAC champions, Marist, check in third with a 10-2 record as they fell to Iona and Wagner both on March 26, the Red Foxes have won eight consecutive contests. La Salle holds the fourth-place spot in the standings with an 8-6 record while Villanova enters the weekend in fifth place with a 7-7 conference mark.
Iona, St. Francis Brooklyn, Siena, and VMI wrap up the bottom four of the standings.
Winning Ways
From January 29 to March 2, the Seahawks won 15 consecutive game which matched the second longest winning streak in program history as Wagner won 17 consecutive games in 2017 and 2018.
The Green & White are currently riding a 12-game winning streak and have never had multiple winning streaks of double-digit victories in a single season in program history.
The Seahawks are currently sporting a 29-3 record, the best through 32 games in program while scoring 534 goals. Through 32 games this season, Wagner is averaging 16.7 goals per game, and 33.0 shots per game while sporting a .505 shooting percentage.
With three regular season games remaining, the Seahawks currently sit at 29 victories, with two more wins, they would exceed the single season record for victories with 30 which was set in 2019.
About #23 LIU
The Sharks welcome Wagner with a 21-5 record and a 10-1 conference mark. LIU's lone conference blemish came at the Spiro Sports Center on Sunday, March 27 when Wagner walked away with a 17-4 victory. LIU is unbeaten at the LIU Pool this season with a 4-0 record.
About St. Francis Brooklyn
St. Francis Brooklyn will welcome Wagner in the Terriers' final regular season game of the season. The Terriers currently have a 9-18 overall record and a 4-10 mark in conference play.
The Green & White defeated the Terriers on February 26, 20-5 at the Courtney Fisher Invitational.
About #25 Marist
The defending MAAC champions will host Wagner in the regular season finale for both sides, the Red Foxes are 8-0 at home this season and have won eight games in a row. Overall Marist is sporting a 23-11 record and a 10-2 record in conference play.
What's Next
The Seahawks will travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to take place in the MAAC tournament on the campus of Marist College. The two semifinal contests are slated for Saturday, April 23 while the championship is on Sunday, April 24.
