Women's Water Polo Hosts Season-Opening Invite

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's water polo team fell twice on Saturday in their own home-opening February Tournament. They dropped the first one to Mercyhurst 14-2 and then fell to Gannon, 17-8.

The Lions squared off against the one of the cross-town rivals Mercyhurst in the season-opener. Behrend could not put together much offense in the first game of the season, falling 14-2.

After a 4-0 quarter in favor of the Lakers (4-1), Devon Van Rensburg (Johannesburg, South Africa/Crawford) put the Lions (0-2) on the board just over a minute into the second quarter. Mercyhurst went on a five-goal scoring streak to end the first half at 9-1.

Maryn Horn (Houston, TX/Jersey Village) scored the other goal for Behrend at the 4:48 mark in the third quarter. She recorded two steals and two drawn kicks in the contest while Rensburg added four steals herself.

Defensively, the Lions held their own in the second half. After allowing nine goals in the first half, Behrend only allowed two goals in the third and three in the fourth to minimize damage.

Scoring was widespread for Mercyhurst. Ten different Lakers notched goals in the game, but Maddie Nye led the team with four goals.

In the second match, the Lions' fell to Gannon by the score of 17-8.

After going down 1-0 in the opening minute of the game, Lauren Wood (Vernon Hills, IL/Vernon Hills) found the back of the net to even the score.

The Golden Knights (4-5) took control of the next three minutes by adding few more goals to have a 4-1 advantage.

At the 2:44 mark in the first, Alison McClure (Loveland, OH/Milford) ended Gannon's hot streak by notching one of her three goals in the game. However, Gannon buried two more goals in the closing minutes of the first quarter to hold a 6-2 edge.

Despite battling throughout the entire contest, the Lions could not withstand Gannon's firepower. Gannon tallied 10 goals in the first half, and seven in the second.

In the match, Wood recorded three goals and two drawn kickouts while McClure added two steals and two drawn kickouts to go along with her three-goal performance. JoJo Gager (Holland, MI/West Ottawa) and Daniella Rio-Martinez (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Sagrados Corazones) each scored their first goal of the season.

The Lions will look to shake these loses off when they travel to Claremont, California on March 3 for the Gray Troyer Invitational.