Box Score

Philadelphia, Pa. - Mercyhurst women's water polo went on the road to begin their season, seeing La Salle on Friday night. The two teams played each other even in the early going but the Explorer began to build up a lead in the second. The second half ended up going La Salle's way, outscoring the Lakers 10-3, leading to a 18-9 final. 

How it Happened

Mercyhurst came out of the games and managed to play their opponent even in the early going as the score stood at 4-4 at the end of the first. Grace Brzyski got the first goal of the game for the Lakers before Allie Dombkowski followed suit, making it a 2-2 score and showing they would not go away quietly. Rachel Vlietstra made it a 3-3 score with just under two minutes in the first before Emma Ruttinger got the final score of the first to tie things up. 

La Salle ended up being able to claim a small lead during the course of the second period. Mercyhurst ended up scoring the first goal of the canto, but the Explorers managed to answer back with two to make it a 6-5 game. After another Laker score, La Salle once again had the rebuttal with a pair of games to take an 8-6 lead at the halftime break.

The adjustments La Salle was able to make ended up making for a major advantage as they outscored Mercyhurst 7-2 in the frame. Both of Mercyhurst's scores came in the first two minutes of the third period with Bri Allstun denting the twine twice. Her offensive spark did not lead to an outburst from the rest of the team as the Explorers scored seven times in a row to amen it a 15-8 game going into the final period. 

La Salle's defense held strong once again in the fourth with them allowing only one goal on their way to the nine-goal decision.

Highlights

Bri Allston and Krista Domaracki tied for the team lead in goals with two apiece, being two of the eight Lakers to find the back of the net. Allstun had a strong run in the third period to help her to tie for the lead, scoring twice in 40 seconds. 

Next Game

Mercyhurst makes the trip to Villanova tomorrow to see the Wildcats at 10:00 a.m. before seeing Mount St, Mary's at 1:30 p.m. the same day. On Sunday, the Lakers return to the water to battle Gannon at 8:30 a.m. on the 28th before rounding out their weekend with Iona at noon.