VILLANOVA, PA. –  The Saint Francis University Water Polo team split the day taking a win over Mount St. Mary's in their first ever collegiate matchup and dropping the second one on the day to Villanova. The Red Flash will give the Mount their first loss in program history today by a score of 17-7. In the second career matchup the Wildcats were victorious giving us our seventh loss of the season in a ahrd fought battle by a score 12-13.
 
After the first day of competition, Emese Szucs and Jenna Handali record seven goals, Julia Bradford scored four, and both Taylor Halbauer and Addison Williams notched three.

Saint Francis 17, Mount St. Mary's 7
 
With the win against Mount St. Mary's, it put the Red Flash at 3-7, snapping the five-game losing streak, going into the second matchup of the day.
 
SFU jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the conclusion of the first quarter. A goal from the Mountaineers and six more from the Red Flash gave the eight-point lead going into halftime. The third quarter concluded with SFU keeping a significant lead, 14-4. The final quarter brought three more Mount goals but not before SFU unleashed three more to secure the 17-7 win.
 

• Every SFU player on the roster took a shot at the cage in the four quarters of play against Mount St. Mary's
• Six different Red Flash found the back of the net, with two above four goals each.
• Freshman Jenna Handali was SFUs leading scorer with six goals on seven shots, only missing one.
• SFU's second top scorer was freshman Emese Szucs with five goals on nine attempts.
• Sophomore Abbie Carter notched two assists for the Red Flash victory.
• Eight Red Flash players recorded steals, with sophomore Madeleine Voss recording the most at four.
• Sophomore Taylor Halbauer and junior Rebecca Pendleton each recorded three steals for SFU.
• The Red Flash recorded four blocks and turnovers during the four quarters to help give SFU the victory they needed.
• Junior Rosalinda Rivera and sophomore Haley Sanko shared time in front of the net, each recording three saves each. Sanko allowed five goals while Rivera allowed two.

Villanova 13, Saint Francis 12
 
It was a hard-fought battle against the Wildcats, but ultimately a late Villanova goal gave them the lead to secure the win. By the end of the third quarter, SFU made a comeback that included a hat trick to tie things up 9-9. But a last-minute surge by Villanova put them on top.
 

• The Red Flash took a total of 30 shots at the cage in four quarters of play.
• Eight different SFU players found the back of the net, with Halbauer as the leading scorer with a total of 3.
• Szucs and junior Julia Bradford each tallied two goals to help in SFU's hard fought effort.
• Jenna Handali recorded another assist on the day.
• Six Red Flash recorded steals with Bradford and Szucs each notching two.
• Szucs and sophomore Addison Williams both came up with two big blocks each in SFU's total of five.
• Williams notched four steals while four other SFU players tallied steals.
• Sophomore Heather Jacobson played all four quarters for the Red Flash, with an impressive 10 saves and allowed all 12.

UP NEXT
Saint Francis takes on two more competitors tomorrow to finish off the Villanova Invitational. They go head to head with familiar faces of Salem University for an early morning game starting at 8:30 a.m. and face off against VMI at 2:30 p.m.

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