Lebanon, Ill—The Mercyhurst Women's Water Polo took care of business on Saturday and advanced to the Semi Finals on Sunday. They played Fresno-Pacific and defeated them 10-8 to punch their ticket to the WWPA Championship against No. 25 Salem. The Lakers fell to Salem by a score of 8-4.
Semi Final vs Fresno-Pacific
Mercyhurst was able to set the tone for the contest very early in the game. Just a minute and a half into the game Sara Marin got the Lakers on the board to give Mercyhurst a 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, the Lakers extended their lead to two as Maddie Nye ripped one into the back of the net.
With four minutes remaining in the opening frame the Lakers scored their third goal of the period as Nye scored on a penalty shot to make it 3-0.
Fresno Pacific answered back however as they scored the next four goals and kept the Lakers off the board for eight straight minutes to take the lead 4-3 with 4:39 remaining in the second period.
Hanna Good would end the run with 4:17 remaining the second period as she scored on the powerplay to tie the game at four.
The Sunbirds would score the next two to make it 6-4 but the Lakers would come within one before the buzzer at Good netted her second goal of the game with 51 seconds remaining in the half.
Four minutes into the third Fresno Pacific extended their lead to two. Then just a minute later they made they made the game 8-5.
Mercyhurst went into the fourth and final period down three, just 85 seconds into the period Marin brought the Lakers to within two.
The comeback was on as Nye scored with 2:43 remaining in the game to make it 8-7.
Less then 30 seconds later the Marin completed her hattrick to tie the game at eight.
After strong defensive play from the Lakers, Rachel Morris put the go ahead goal in with 47 seconds remaining.
Nye would then complete the comeback and her hattrick as they Lakers closed the game with their final goal with five seconds remaining.
Sarah O'Keefe contuined her great play in the cage for the Lakers as she made 11 saves and tallied a steal in the win. Mercyhurst outshot the Sunbirds 31-24 while punching their ticket to the final.
Championship vs Salem
The Tigers were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
In the second however, Mercyhurst outscored Salem 3-2.
Hannah Engquist was able to get Lakers on the board just 51 seconds into the second frame to make it 2-1.
Rachel Vlietstra would tie the game at two with 4:45 remaining in the second period, however Salem would take their lead back just 25 seconds later.
The Tigers would then make it 4-2 with 3:33 remaining in the second period.
With just 34 seconds until halftime the Lakers cut the lead to one as Marin netted her first goal of the game.
The Lakers were unable to convert in the third period despite having a lot of chances, Salem added one to their lead to make it 5-3 heading to the final frame.
Anderson cut their lead to one on a penalty shot with just over five minutes remaining, but the Tigers were too much for the Lakers as Mercyhurst allowed three more in the period and fell 8-4.
The Lakers were able to get 18 of their 28 shots on target, while also outshooting the Tigers overall 28-22. O'Keefe was able to make eight saves in the cage.
All-Tournament Team
Four Lakers were named to the All-Tournament Team. Maddie Nye and Sara Marin were named to the Second Team. Sarah O'Keefe and Cassie Anderson were named to the First Team.
