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Villanova, Pa. - After dropping their season opener to La Salle on Friday, Mercyhurst women's water polo made the trek to Villanova for four games with a pair coming on Saturday before two more to round out their opening weekend. The Lakers fought hard in all four games, but came up short as they come back home 0-5 to start the new season.

How it Happened

Game one of Saturday came against Villanova in a 10:00 a.m. with the Wildcats getting the better of that matchup, 18-8. Mercyhurst was able to keep up with their counterpart in the opening period of play as they were only down two going into the second, 5-3. It was Allie Dombkowski, Eva Henneman, and Alexa Corrao who helped the Laker's offense get started as they each had one goal in the first period. Mercyhurst continued to stick around as they dented the twine four times in the second period to help lead to an 11-7 game at the halftime break with Villanova in front.

The Wildcats used the break effectively and came up with a way to stop the offensive attack of the Lakers, allowing just one goal in the second half. Sakura Gavin found the back of the net in the third period and hoped to use that as a spark to help her team get back into things, but it was not quite enough as the second half effort from Villanova proved too much in the 10-goal decision.

Game number two of Saturday for the Lakers was against Mount St. Mary's with the two teams seeing each other in the afternoon. The Mount came out as the aggressors in that one as they were able to stake themselves to a 4-1 lead at end of the first period with the Laker's lone goal belonging to freshman Marley Hanlon. Mercyhurst's offense picked up a bit in the second with two goals in the frame, but they still found themselves down at halftime with the score standing at 8-3. While the Lakers began to find away to slow down their opponent in the second half, they could never quite find their rhythm and ultimately fell 14-7 to finish out day one in Villanova.

The Lakers returned to the pool on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. to play cross-town rivals, Gannon. The Golden Knights ended winning that one 13-8 but not without a strong fight from the Lakers. Mercyhurst came out of the gates as the hotter team as they owned a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period. Bri Allstun, Freya Green, and Corrao all found the back of the net to help stake Mercyhurst to a lead that they hoped to extend as the game went along.

Gannon, however had other ideas as they grabbed the advantage in the second quarter. The Golden Knight's defense made all the right adjustments after giving up three goals in the first as they allowed only one goal in both the second and third periods while scoring eight times over that stretch to help them secure a 10-5 lead going into the final period of play. Mercyhurst began to find their groove on offense again with a trio of goals over the course of the final eight minutes, but it was not enough in the loss to their Erie rivals.

The Lakers wrapped up their opening weekend with a contest against Iona with the Gaels getting the win in that one, 18-3. The opening quarter was a relatively quiet one with Iona owning a 3-1 lead at the end of it. The second canto is where they began to put some distance between themselves and the Lakers as Iona dented the twine on seven occasions while Mercyhurst could muster only one goal courtesy of Green, going into the halftime break down 10-2. The strong defensive effort from the Gaels did not dissipate during the second half of play as they gave up only one goal over the final 16 minutes of action to help them secure the big win.

Highlights

Alexa Corrao led the team in goals over the course of the four games with seven to her line. She ended up with four in the team's contest with Gannon Sunday morning to help set a new career-high for goals in a single game. She was followed by a trio of Lakers who each had three in Allie Dombkowski, Krista Domaracki, and Bri Allstun. Of that group, Domaracki had the lone multi-goal game with two coming against Villanova.

Next Game

Mercyhurst heads back out on the road this upcoming weekend to begin he month of February as they go to Lexington, Va. to see VMI on Saturday the 3rd at 9:30 AM followed by another about with Villanova in the afternoon at 3:30 p.m. They then return to action he following day when they see Mount St. Mary's at 2:00 p.m. to round out their weekend.