LORETTO, PA – The Saint Francis water polo team comes home for a Sunday homestead in Loretto on Sunday March 21^st. CWPA play starts as Michigan and Mount St. Mary's come to town to take on the Red Flash at 9am and 2:30 pm. SFU has gone on a small hiatus not playing last weekend, but looks to come back stronger against the Wolverines and Mountaineers.

Both games will be streamed through NEC Front Row.

The Event: Red Flash Invitational
Location: Stoke Natatorium (Loretto, PA)

Game 1: Saint Francis vs. Michigan
Date and Time: Sunday, March 21^st – 9:00 am
Stream: NECFrontRow

Game 2: Saint Francis vs. Mount St. Mary's
Date and Time: Sunday, March 21^st – 2:30 pm
Stream: NECFrontRow


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SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
The no. seven ranked U-M is 36-2 in CWPA action since 2016, and this will be their fourth consecutive weekend on the road for competition. They are 5-4 overall the past three weekends.
 
Senior Maddie O'Reilly leads the team in shots (46), goals (20), assists (14) and points (34). Among national leaders, O'Reilly is ranked second in field blocks (eight), tied for third in sprint wins (15), seventh in points and tied for eighth in assists.

Graduate student Heidi Ritner has played in nine games and ranks first in the nation in steals with 28 and fourth in the nation in saves with 68. Backups Sophie Jackson and Alex Brown have been solid in relief when the Wolverines needed them most.

Senior Sofie Pontré notched two goals last weekend to put her at 100 points for her career which comes from 58 goals and 42 assists. There are two other senior Wolverines on the team with over 100 points, Kathy Rogers with 164 and O'Reilly with 105.

Michigan is 5-0 all-time against Saint Francis, including a 13-2 victory at the Michigan Invitational back in February. SFU looks to use the home pool advantage to come out on top for the first time against a tough Michigan defense.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
The Red Flash look to keep their win streak alive against Mount St Mary's as they come to their home pool this weekend. SFU handed the Mount its first ever program loss back at the beginning of March when they defeated them 17-7 at the Villanova Invitational.
 
Mount St. Mary's is looking to pick up their first win of the year and program history this Sunday. Last weekend they went 0-3 at Villanova where VMI handed them a 15-5 loss, Villanova captured a 16-4 win, and La Salle won by 10 (18-8).
 
Emily Van Kerckhove is an offensive force for the Mountaineers where just last weekend she contributed to scoring or assisting in seven of eight goals. She as well had four drawn exclusions and a steal. Lauryn Thomas also tallied a multi-goal game with two successful shots.
 
Rebekka Williams defended 17 shots in game one last weekend and 11 in the nightcap matchup vs. La Salle. Thomas had a second multi-goal game with two more against the Wildcats. As a team, they tallied 11 steals in the second contest, led by Lily Pullen with four.

THE RED FLASH
SFU returns this Sunday after a two-week hiatus looking to add more W's in the win column. The last competition for the Red Flash comes from the beginning of March where they went 3-1 to put them at no. 25 in the CWPA national poll for the first time in program history.
 
This will be the sixth meeting between SFU and Michigan with U-M holding the five-game winning streak, and the second matchup against the Mountaineers where SFU leads 1-0 overall.
 
Saint Francis has a strong underclassmen class in freshman Emese Szucs as SFU's leading scorer with 28 goals on 49 shots, and sophomore Taylor Halbauer close behind with 25 goals on 53 shots. Four Red Flash are in double digits in goals and seven in shots on the year.
 
Freshman Jenna Handali leads SFU in assists with eight.
 
Szucs has tallied the most steals for SFU with 16 and sophomore Addison Williams is close behind with 15. Four players have recorded six blocks in their total twelve games.

Sophomore Heather Jacobson is a leading force for the Red Flash in front of the cage with 58 saves and allowing 69 total this season. Junior Rosalinda Rivera as well keeps the net protected, saving 40 goals and allowing only 33 on the season.

THE SCHEDULE
The Red Flash host Michigan and Mount St. Mary's this Sunday with things kicking off at 9am vs. Michigan. The Wolverines and Mountaineers will go head to head at 11am, followed by our final game of the day at 2:30 pm when we take on Mount St. Mary's.

Follow Saint Francis Water Polo on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get up-to-date information and a behind-the-scenes look at the Red Flash.

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