Poughkeepsie, NY – The regular season champion Wagner College women's water polo team advanced to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship with a 9-5 victory over La Salle on Saturday afternoon.
#1 Wagner (9) vs. #4 La Salle (5)
The Seahawks claimed its 16th consecutive victory and return to the MAAC championship game for the first time since 2019, the last season Wagner completed a full season.
Junior Skye Nankvervis claimed a victory in the opening sprint before sophomore
Andrea Arias got Wagner on the board with the lone two goals of the first quarter. The Explorers bounced back and cut the Wagner lead in half to make it 2-1 after the first quarter.
La Salle returned the favor in the second stanza as they outscored the Seahawks 2-1 to end the first half. Senior
Sofia Diaz Alvarez tallied the lone goal for Wagner as the game went into the halftime intermission knotted at three.
The Green & White pulled away from La Salle in the third quarter as they outscored its opponents 4-1 behind two goals from Co-Offensive Player of the Year junior
Abbey Simshauser, fifth year senior
Malia Josephson and
Sofia Diaz Alvarez.
With a 7-4 lead heading into the final stanza,
Andrea Arias and
Sofia Diaz Alvarez completed their hat tricks to propel Wagner to a 9-5 victory.
Senior goalkeeper
Kristina Bell stopped nine out of 14 shots faced while
Sofia Diaz Alvarez and
Andrea Arias recorded hat tricks as the two combined for 16 shots.
The Seahawks will take place in the championship game tomorrow, April 24 against the #2 (23) LIU at 2:00 P.M. on ESPN+.
