Bucknell Final Stats Hartwick Final Stats

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Villanova water polo team completed its first day of matches at the Brown Bruno Invite on Saturday. The Wildcats fell to Bucknell 14-7 and 18-10 to Hartwick. The team concludes play Sunday against Brown at 8:30 a.m.

"We had a rough start to our season in our loss to Bucknell, but we started to pick up in our game against Hartwick. We're integrating a new team with over half of them freshman and with comes challenges and growing pains" said head coach Rob Mida on today's matches.

Game 1 Villanova (0-0) vs. Bucknell (1-1)

Bucknell jumped out to an early 2-0 lead within the first two minutes of play. The first goal was scored by junior utility Sarah Mooney and the second was scored by senior attack Colleen Barron. The Bison would then capitalize on the two goals by scoring one more to take a 3-0 lead with two minutes left in the first quarter. The Wildcats would then score their first goal of the game with 1:57 left in the first quarter scored by junior utility Kate Stenmoen. After a comeback goal by Bucknell, Villanova would answer with two more goals. The first came with 1:12 left in the quarter by junior attack Maria Breen and the second by senior center Dominique Clark.

The Bison would begin the second quarter by going on a 3-0 run to increase their lead to 7-3. Villanova would tally one goal in the quarter scored by junior driver Katie French (1) to close the half at 7-4. Bucknell throughout the game would not give in and continued to score in the third in which the Bison went on another 3-0 run before the Wildcats scored a goal by freshman utility Charlotte Curran. The third quarter would conclude with a score of 11-5. Villanova would tack on two more goals in the fourth while Bucknell would seal the game by scoring three more goals in the quarter to end the game with a 14-7 victory.

Game 2 Villanova (0-1) vs. Hartwick (1-2)

Hartwick jumped on the board within the first forty-five seconds of the game with a quick goal by senior utility Zsofia Polak to take a 1-0 lead. The Hawks would then go on a 6-0 run before in the last minute of the quarter senior driver Sara Lynn Able (1) put the Wildcats on the board which the quarter closed with Hartwick up 6-1. The second quarter began with another quick goal by the Hawks to put them up 7-1 but soon after senior center Dominique Clark would respond with a goal (3) to cut the lead down to 7-2 with 6:28 remaining. Hartwick would score one more goal before junior utility Kate Stenmoen would score her second goal of the season cutting the lead to 8-3. After more back and forth goals, the half would conclude with the Hawks up 9-4.

The Hawks began the third quarter with a quick goal putting them ahead 10-4 with 7:34 remaining in the quarter. Twenty-four seconds later the Wildcats would respond with a goal by freshman utility Charlotte Curran (2) to keep the Cats close 10-5. But soon after the Hawks would go on a 3-0 run putting them ahead 13-5 and only Villanova could add three goals one by Clark (4) and two by freshman attack Kate Murray (2) to make the score 14-8 at the end of the third. The fourth quarter would consist of a couple quick goals by the Wildcats one by freshman utility Camile Oswald (1) and the other by Dominique Clark (5) to make the score 14-10 with four minutes remaining in the game. But Hartwick would score four more goals and Villanova would fall to Hartwick 18-10. With the loses Villanova moves to 0-2 overall and Hartwick moves to 2-2 on the year.

The Wildcats compete tomorrow against host Brown at 8:30 a.m. For up-to-date coverage, please follow the team on Twitter (@Nova_WaterPolo), and Instagram (@novawaterpolo).