ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Saint Francis water polo team competed in their second invitational of its 2021 season dropping both matchups on the first day of the Michigan Invitational. SFU recorded their third loss of this season and eighth overall against Indiana and had their first lost ever to Salem.
 
After the first day of competition, Emese Szucs tallied six total goals and Taylor Halbauer and Addison Williams recorded three each. Heather Jacobson played all 64 minutes in front of the net.  

Indiana 18, Saint Francis 7

HOW IT HAPPENED
-Less than a minute into the matchup, the Hoosiers score their first point and freshman Emese Szucs finds the back of the net to tie it up.
-With ten seconds remaining in the first quarter, freshman Jenna Handali finds the back of the net giving SFU the lead by one going into the second quarter.
-Sophomore Abbie Carter gave SFU the lead back in the middle of quarter two with her second goal of the season.
-Szucs gets her third goal of the game early in the third quarter to put SFU a goal behind with 7:20 left, making it 7-6 Indiana.
-The Hoosiers go on a five-goal run to jump ahead 12-6 to finish out the third quarter.
-SFU stayed scoreless while Indiana added three more in the start of the fourth quarter to make it 15-6 Indiana, with 4 minutes left.
-Halbauer added one for SFU with 3 minutes left to play. Indiana still lead 16-7.
-The Hoosiers added three more to finish out the fourth quarter as SFU drops the first matchup of the day 18-7.

STATS/NOTES
-Emese Szucs tallied three of SFU's seven goals. Carter, Williams, Halbauer, and Handali all added a goal each.
-Sophomore Heather Jacobson played the entire game recording seven saves (.280%).
-Szucs notched two assists and Williams was accredited with one.
-Szucs and junior Julia Bradford recorded two steals each while Handali and sophomore Haiden Lang had one.

Salem 10, Saint Francis 9

HOW IT HAPPENED
-SFU and Salem went scoreless for the first two minutes before Salem got the first goal of the night with 5:54 left in the first quarter.
-Abbie Carter gets SFU's first goal of the night to tie it 1-1. 20 seconds later, Emese Szucs found the back of the net to give SFU the 2-1 lead.
-The Red Flash added another from sophomore Taylor Halbauer, making it 3-1 SFU at the end of the first quarter.
-The Tigers added two, but not before sophomore Addison Williams notched another goal to make it 4-3 SFU with 6:07 left in the second.
-Halbauer found the back of the net 15 seconds into the third quarter to make it a 5-3 SFU lead.
-Salem added one more, then both teams stayed scoreless for three minutes before Williams found the back of the net to give SFU a two-goal lead making it 6-4 with four minutes left to play in the third quarter.
-Both teams went goal for goal, but with two seconds left in the third quarter Salem adds one more to lessen the SFU lead making it 7-6 SFU.
-A minute and a half into the fourth, Emese Szucs got her second goal of the game to increase the lead by two.
-Two goals late in the fourth by the Tigers tied it up 9-9 with a little over two minutes left to play.
-With two seconds left in the fourth, Salem finds the back of the net to edge out the Red Flash 10-9.

STATS/NOTES
-Szucs tallies three more goals on the day for the Red Flash. Halbauer and Williams both added two.
-Five separate Red Flash recorded a steal each.
-Carter recorded four assists while Handali tallied two.
-Jacobson played the full 32 minutes with 11 saves (.524%).

UP NEXT
Saint Francis will face the host, Michigan in a Sunday morning matchup at 9:00 am and then take on the Tigers once more at 12:30 pm.

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To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.