LORETTO, Pa.- After taking a hiatus, the Saint Francis water polo team travels to Ann Arbor this weekend for the Michigan Invite. The challenging slate features four ranked CWPA teams: No. 13 Fresno State, No. 6 University of the Pacific, No. 14 University of California-San Diego, and No. 15 Long Beach State University.
 
Scouting Fresno State
 
The Bulldogs are a deceiving 4-8 on the season. Their schedule was front loaded to the maximum; Fresno State opened 2019 playing 10 straight ranked teams including No. 1 USC, No. 2 Stanford, and No. 3 UCLA. Fresno State finally gained some relief last weekend when dueling two unranked squads. The Bulldogs' leading scorers from 2018 have both returned. Callie Woodruff and Emily Nicholson combined for 83 goals last season. Head coach Natalie Benson, who oversaw the birth of Fresno State water polo, continues to lead the Bulldogs.
 
Scouting the University of the Pacific
 
As traditional of west coast teams, the Tigers have played a stimulating schedule dotted with ranked teams resulting in a 4-5 mark. Among the more notable games, the Tigers beat Michigan and lost to California and Stanford. Viktoria Szmodics, Viktoria Tamas, and Savannah Fitzgerald have been the leading scorers for the Tigers. Szmodics and Tamas both hail from Hungary. James Graham leads both the men and women's water polo teams. He has been named a 3-Time GCC Coach of the Year and a 1-Time National Coach of the Year.
 
Scouting the University of California-San Diego
 
The Tritons has gone 5-9 against a schedule filled with 12 ranked teams. UCSD's finest win was against No. 13 San Jose State by an amount of 14-8. Taylor Onstott, Ciara Frank, Grace Pevehouse, and Jessee Ransone lead four-pronged Triton attack. Ransone is shooting at an astounding .625 clip. Brad Kreutzkamp has coached UCSD for 10 years and has won over 200 games. He has been named WWPA Coach of the Year four times and hasn't lost a conference game since 2012.
 
Scouting Long Beach State
 
Long Beach State, like Fresno State, is 4-8 on the season due to an extremely difficult schedule. The Beach enter the Michigan Invite after winning a 8-7 sudden death victory over ranked San Jose State. Orsi Hertzka leads all scorers with 33 goals. Tori Morrissey and Annabel Harman provide support with 17 and 16 goals respectively. Head coach Gavin Arroyo coaches both the men and women's water polo teams and this is his seventh season as the women's coach.
 
Reinforcements
 
With the conclusion of the Saint Francis swimming season, dual-sport athletes Julia Bradford (Edinboro, Pa./Villa Maria Academy), Rebecca Pendleton (Maple Glen, PA/Upper Dublin High Schhol), Erin O'Neill (Landsdale, Pa/North Penn), and Camillie Nguyen (Mason, Ohio/Mason) have been released to play water polo. The foursome will provide needed depth, veteran experience, and youthful exuberance.

How to Follow

Live Stats will be available on the Fosh. The links can be found on the SFU Water Polo schedule page. 

The Michigan Invite Tournament page is available here.