ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The McKendree University women's water polo team extended its win streak to three straight here Saturday afternoon following its hard-fought 10-9 win over Augustana College at Anne Greve Lund Natatorium.
With the victory, McKendree improves to 9-3 overall on the season, while Augustana falls to 1-9 in its inaugural season of women's water polo.
In Saturday's win, the Bearcats held a 9-6 lead following a goal to open the fourth period by senior attacker Carley Manuel (Lantana, Texas/Guyer), but the Vikings would respond with two straight goals to pull within 9-8 with 4:43 left in the game.
Nearly two minutes after Alyssa Fricker brought the Vikings within a goal, senior center defender Danielle Borelli (Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach) scored a goal with 2:58 left in the game to give the Bearcats a 10-8 advantage. Fricker would score her seventh goal of goal with 1:23 left to cap the scoring.
The Bearcats outscored the Vikings, 5-3 in the second half after trailing 6-5 at the half.
Borelli led the way offensively for the Bearcats with four goals, while junior utility player Katelyn Rodrigue (Brentwood, Calif./Heritage) added two goals. Junior utility Shoshana Scanlon (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) had four assists, while sophomore attacker Jasmin Guzman (Cicero, Ill./Morton East) and senior attacker Maddy Bolton (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos) each had two assists in the win.
Borelli got the scoring started on a goal just 35 seconds into the game, but Fricker would score her first goal of the game just 14 seconds later to tie things up at 1-all.
Rodrigue would give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead on her goal with 5:52 left in the first period, but Fricker would add her second goal with 3:15 left in the period to retie the game. Borelli and senior center Abigail Burton (Chino, Calif./Chino) would then score two straight goals for the Bearcats to give them a 4-2 lead with 1:30 left in the period.
Fricker, though, would score her third goal of the game with 1:10 left in the period to cut McKendree's lead to 4-3 heading into the second period.
In the second period, the Vikings would outscore the Bearcats, 3-1 in the second period to hold its 6-5 lead at halftime, including Fricker scoring the final goal of the period with 1:17 left.
The Bearcats would respond in the third period with goals from freshman center Sofia Dominguez (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson), Scanlon and Borelli to lead 8-6 heading into the final period.
While Fricker scored seven of Augustana's eight goals, Jillian Hagmann scored the other goal and added three assists for four points.
McKendree would outshoot the Vikings, 29-23, as Scanlon led the way with seven shots for the Bearcats, while Borelli took six shots. Fricker took 14 of her team's 23 shots.
Augustana held an 11-8 edge in exclusions, but the Bearcats were 4-for-10 on power plays, while Augie was 1-for-7 on power plays.
Freshman Sydney Kane (Bradley, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) played all 32 minutes in goal as she finished with six saves and a steal and had a .400 save percentage.
Augie split their goal duties between Lanie DaSilva and Lizzie Pelzman as DaSilva allowed six goals and made five saves and had a steal, while Pelzman allowed four goals and made six saves.
The Bearcats will return to action next weekend (March 19-20) as they play three games in two games for WWPA Conference play at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex Pool. The Bearcats will begin the weekend with an 11 a.m. game on March 19 against Gannon (Pa.) University, before facing Salem (W.Va.) University on March 19 at 5:30 p.m. and concluding the weekend with a 10:30 a.m. game on March 20 against Mercyhurst (Pa.) University.
