La Mirada, Ca. - Mercyhurst women's water polo put a bow on their run in the WWPA Championships Sunday afternoon with their win over McKendree, earning third place. The Lakers had to fight hard for their win and ended up going into overtime, but managed to come out on top 10-9.

How it Happened

The opening period was a tightly contested one with the Bearcats owning a one-goal lead by the end. McKendree came out and fired the opening goal with a score just two minutes into the competition. Mercyhurst responded as Sakura Gavin found the back of the net at the 5:35 mark, 1-1. The Bearcats scored two more goals with it looking like they were going to grab the momentum going into the second, but a late first quarter goal from Freya Green made to 3-2 going into the second.

Defense ruled the second period as none managed to score. The third was a different story with five goals between the two teams with the Lakers having three of those to help them tie things up going into the final frame. Krista Domaracki and Allie Dombkowski got in on the action for the team as the both scored for the first time in the game while Gavin got her second score at the 1:58 mark of the frame to make it 5-5.

The two teams felt each other out in the fourth as no one could score through the first few minutes of the fourth. It was not until Rachel Vlietstra for the Lakers scored with 3:40 to go that the tie was broken, but just 30 seconds later the Bearcats answered back, 6-6. From there, both teams fought for position and tried to end the game in regulation, but were unsuccessful. 

Vlietstra got her second goal of the game to open up the first overtime period with Grace Brzyski to follow to help give the Lakers a two goal lead and the momentum, up 8-6. McKendree did manage to score twice themselves, but not without a Dombkowski goal sandwiched in between to give Mercyhurst a 9-8 lead going into the second overtime. Defense on both sides tightened up in the final three minutes as neither team could find the back of the net, helping the Lakers to one of their stronger finishes in the conference tournament over the last decade.

Highlights

Sakura Gavin led the team in points with five, scoring two goals while adding a trio of assists to her line to go along with three steals. Her trio of takeaways were tied for the second-most on the team behind Freya Green and Rachel Vlietstra who both had four. Green also played a role on offense with three point with a goal and two assists, tying Allie Dombkowski for second-most points on the day thanks to the senior's pair of goals and assist.