LORETTO, Pa. — The Saint Francis University women’s water polo team has finalized its 2024 season schedule.
“We are very excited to get the 2024 season underway. The Red Flash will have a new look this season with four new starters in the lineup from last year,” said head coach Jay O’Neil. “We are a young team with a tough schedule. We are looking forward to continuing with the success we had late last year.”
The Red Flash will begin their season at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. for the first of two Michigan Invites on January 27-28. The team will open the invite and season against Long Island University. To end the first day of the invite, Saint Francis will face the host Wolverines, who they last played in the Third Place match of the 2023 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championships, falling 16-6. On day two of the Michigan Invite, the Red Flash battled Indiana University and Marist College.
The following weekend, Saint Francis will compete in the Bruno Classic at Brown University in Providence, R.I.. On February 2, the team will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. On February 3, the Red Flash battle Siena College and La Salle University. On the final day of the Bruno Classic, SFU will again face the Sharks of LIU.
Saint Francis will then compete in the Bucknell Invitational at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. on February 10-11. Facing Villanova University twice during the weekend along with another clash versus La Salle, the Red Flash will open league competition by squaring off with the host Bison on February 10.
At the Indiana Invitational hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., on February 17-18, Saint Francis will compete in four matches. Their first will be a rematch against Michigan in another CWPA contest, with the remainder pitting the squad against California Baptist University, the host Hoosiers and Iona University.
The Red Flash will compete in the first of two conference tournaments to open the month of March. During a two-day event on March 2-3 at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., Saint Francis will tangle with Harvard University, Brown and the host/defending CWPA Champion Tigers.
After a spring break training trip to California, Saint Francis heads back to Ann Arbor for another Michigan Invite on March 23-24. Facing the University of California-Merced and Mercyhurst University on March 23, the Red Flash wrap-up the trip by taking on Bucknell in another CWPA contest prior to meeting Long Beach State University on March 24.
To begin April, the Red Flash square-off with Brown, Princeton and Harvard at Bucknell on April 6-7 to conclude SFU’s regular season league docket.
On April 13, Saint Francis hosts Mercyhurst University at Stokes Natatorium for the program’s lone home match of the season.
Closing out the regular season, the team will travel to the The Bridge Sports Complex in Bridgeport, W.Va., for a game against Salem University.
Saint Francis will aim to improve on last year’s Fourth Place finish at the CWPA Championship by taking part in the six-team
In the postseason, the Red Flash will travel to Harvard for the six-team 2024 CWPA Championship, which will take place in the six-team event on April 26-28 with a berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship at stake.
Information courtesy Saint Francis University Athletics Communications
