Lexington, Va. – Villanova Water Polo defeated Siena 12-5 and Iona 12-11 to open conference play 2-0.

Siena
The scoring started early and often for Villanova as they immediately took the lead in the first quarter and ended it leading 4-0.

Villanova kept up the good work and led 7-2 at halftime. They would then outscore Siena 5-3 in the second half for the 12-5 win.

Kate Stenmoen led the way for the Wildcats with three goals and an assist. Charlotte Curran and Amanda Rice were just behind her with two goals and an assist. Five more players tallied a goal each, Camille Oswald, Kaysie Stuba, Paris Huffman, Malia Gacutan, and Kate Murray.

Gaby Palmisano allowed just two goals in net while making six saves. Rachel Jennings allowed three goals and had two saves in the game.

Iona
Unlike Siena, Villanova was outscored 5-0 in the second quarter, and were down 8-4 at halftime. The Gaels also scored the first goal in the third quarter to extend their lead to five, but the Wildcats would then start their rally.

Stenmoen rallied off four straight goals for the Wildcats cutting the lead to just one. Murray would then tie the game with 39 seconds left in the quarter. She then tallied her fifth goal of the quarter with just three seconds left and gave the Wildcats a 10-9 lead heading into the fourth.

Iona would tie the game with 3:40 left on a goal from Jordan Van Reeken, and then she would give the Gaels the lead with 2:45 left. It would take Murray just thirty seconds to tie the game back up at 11.

The game winning goal would come from Curran with 1:19 left in the game on an assist from Murray. This would propel Villanova to a 2-0 day.

The team will be back in action tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. against St. Francis Brooklyn.