George Washington University-vs.-Saint Francis University Scoresheet
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Erin O’Neill (Jr., Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), Metzli Enriquez (So., Atwater, Calif./El Capitan), Player of the Game Ani Aghakhanian (Sr., La Crescenta, Calif./Los Angeles Valley College) and Breanna Dupperon (Fr., Regina, Canada/Campbell Collegiate) each scored twice and goalie Rosalinda Rivera (Fr., Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) stopped 10 shots as Saint Francis University topped George Washington University, 11-7, at Brown University’s Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center to begin the second day of competition at the 2019 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship.
Competing against the Colonials for the third time in 2019 following 10-9 losses on March 31 (at George Washington) and April 13 (at Bucknell University), Saint Francis (10-25) held 3-1 scoring advantages in both the third and fourth quarters to break a five-all halftime tie.
George Washington (6-14) claimed the early lead in the game as Jaleh Moaddeli (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) put away a shot at the 5:52 mark, but O’Neill answered at 5:06 to tie the score at one-all. The Colonials regained the lead at 2-1 via a strike by Alana Ponce (So., Gig Harbor, Wash./Gig Harbor) with 3:38 left in the first quarter, but back-to-back scores by Enriquez (3:23) and Dupperon (1:17, man-up) allowed the Red Flash to pull ahead 3-2 after eight minutes of action.
GW balanced the scoreboard 17 seconds into the second quarter as Juliette Belanger (Fr., Ottawa, Canada/Ecole Secondaire Catholique Franco-Cite) snapped in a shot (7:43), but a five-meter penalty shot by Dupperon returned the lead to Saint Francis at 4-3 with 3:23 on the clock.
GW was able to even the damage prior to halftime as Kira Bruno (Jr., La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla) and Ponce buried natural (3:06) and man-up (43 seconds) goals, respectively, to sandwich a counter-strike by Caroline Gillespie (Fr., Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) at 1:07 to deadlock the teams at five-all through 16 minutes of play.
Ponce put GW ahead for the final time 61 seconds into the third quarter as she converted on a man-up bid at 6:59. However, the Red Flash began to turn up the heat on the Colonials as O’Neill (3:05), Aghakhanian (1:50) and Kelsey Gring (Jr., Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) (1:17) ticked off back-to-back-to-back goals over the remainder of the quarter to snag an 8-6 lead for Saint Francis heading into the fourth quarter.
Bruno attempted to make it a game as she cashed in a six-on-five opportunity at 7:01 to close the Colonials within one at 8-7.
Facing a potential comeback or overtime, Saint Francis put the game out of reach as Aghakhanian (5:41, man-up), Enriquez (4:48, even-strength) and Kaitlyn Nguyen (Sr., Annandale, Va./Bishop Ireton) (2:19, man-up) iced the victory with three straight scores to help the Red Flash turn out the lights on GW.
For Saint Francis, Gillespie, Nguyen and Gring each netted solo tallies to join O’Neill, Enriquez, Aghakhanian and Dupperon in the scoring column.
Ponce (three) and Bruno (two) netted multi-goal games for George Washington, while Belanger and Moaddeli both punched in solo markers. Samantha Runyon (Jr., San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) took the loss with seven saves.
The game marked the first of three round-robin contests to determine Fifth-to-Seventh Place in the final CWPA Championship tournament standings. Saint Francis will wrap-up its weekend later today at 4:00 p.m. versus host Brown. George Washington will conclude its weekend at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 28, against the Bears.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Saint Francis University | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | 11 |
| George Washington University | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | – | 7 |
| George Washington Goals: | Alana Ponce (3); Kira Bruno (2); Juliette Belanger; Jaleh Moaddeli | |||||
| Saint Francis Goals: | Erin O’Neill (2); Metzli Enriquez (2); Ani Aghakhanian (2); Breanna Dupperon (2); Caroline Gillespie; Kaitlyn Nguyen; Kelsey Gring | |||||
| Saves: | George Washington – Samantha Runyon (7) ; Saint Francis – Rosalinda Rivera (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Saint Francis – 6 ; George Washington – 5 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Saint Francis – 2-for-5 ; George Washington – 4-for-6 | |||||
| Sprints: | George Washington -1-for-4 (2nd) ; Saint Francis – 3-for-4 (1st, 3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Mike Schofield; Josh Kratz | |||||
George Washington University’s Emma Shaffer (#8)
Saint Francis University’s Erin O’Neill (#18) tries to block a shot by George Washington University’s Jaleh Moaddeli (#22)
George Washington University’s Allison DeCicco (#13) fires a shot as Saint Francis University’s Metzli Enriquez (#13) closes in
Saint Francis University’s Ani Aghakhanian (#3)
