NEW LONDON, Conn. — Clare Jefferys (So., Erie, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) scored four times, including a hat-trick in the first quarter, as the Penn State Behrend Lions roared past the Utica College Pioneers, 10-3, on the opening day of a Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III weekend at Connecticut College’s Jane Cadwell Lott Natatorium.
The Lions never trailed in the game as Jefferys deposited back-to-back markers at 6:51 and 5:40 of the first quarter to provide Penn State Behrend a 2-0 lead less than 2:30 into the game. Krystiana Rehrig (Jr., Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) cut Utica’s deficit in half with a strike at 3:08, but Maryn Horn (Jr., Houston, Texas/Jersey Village), Lauren Wood (So., Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) and Jefferys enlarged the margin to 5-1 by the conclusion of the first quarter with goals at the 2:26 2:00 and 49 second marks, respectively, to construct a dominating lead for the Lions.
Penn State Behrend continued to pour it on in the second quarter as Wood (7:33), Jessica Islas-Parker (Fr., Palatine, Ill./Frema) (5:20), Brittany Pinter (Sr., Erie, Pa./McDowell) (4:12) and Jefferys (2:41) torched the cage with four consecutive goals to make it 9-1 by halftime.
The Lions’ offense cooled down in the third quarter as the teams settled into a back-and-forth pace prior to Rehrig registering her second tally with 17 seconds remaining in the frame to move the Pioneers within 9-2 of Penn State Behrend entering the fourth quarter.
Similar to the third quarter, neither team was able to muster much in terms of offense until the closing minutes as Horn hooked in a shot at 2:03 prior to Rebecca Merrill (Fr., Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) putting away Utica’s final goal for the 10-3 final score.
For Penn State Behrend, Wood and Horn both joined Jefferys in recording multi-score games. Islas-Parker and Pinter both connected for solo tallies.
Rehrig scored twice to key Utica with Merrill accounting for the Pioneers’ final marker.
