PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Caylah Olay (Jr., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) scored seven times to claim Player of the Game recognition as Saint Francis University exploited a 7-3 scoring advantage in the second half to outmatch Mercyhurst University, 16-11, in the final game on the second day of the 2025 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship hosted by Brown University.
The Red Flash (14-17, 2-10 CWPA) guarantee themselves to finish no lower than sixth place in the seven-team championship’s standings as SFU holds a head-to-head win over Mercyhurst (5-14, 0-12 CWPA). Mercyhurst – which previously dropped a 17-3 contest to No. 20-ranked/host Brown earlier in the day – concludes its season at No. 7 in the standings, while Saint Francis will face Brown at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, to determine the fifth and sixth place squads.
In the history of the CWPA Championship, Saint Francis has previously placed third (2021, four teams), fourth (2023, six teams), fifth (2022, seven teams; 2024, six teams), sixth (2019, six teams), eighth (2017, nine teams) and ninth (2018, nine teams) in various sized fields.
The Lakers led only once in the game as Krista Domaracki (Jr., South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) broke the ice with 5:23 remaining in the first quarter to stake Mercyhurst to an early 1-0 margin.
Saint Francis erased the lead as Sofia Maioriello (Fr., Naples, Italy/Liceo Statale Salvatore Pizzi) (4:54, man-up) and Olay (3:57) tossed in responses to provide the Red Flash with a 2-1 lead. Victoria Mastrangelo (Fr., Orlando, Fla./Boone) (3:15) balanced the scoreboard for the Lakers, Breeze Ohlson (Fr., South Jordan, Utah/Herriman) delivered for Saint Francis (2:59) and Eva Henneman (Jr., Bend, Ore./Bend) (1:05) squared the teams at three-all prior to Kayla Rhoads (Sr., Oceanside, Calif./El Camino) putting SFU in front to stay at 4-3 with 49 seconds left in the first eight minutes of competition.
Rhoads struck again 32 seconds into the second quarter (7:28) to increase the lead to 5-3 as the teams continued to trade scoring blows throughout the remainder of the first half. Allie Dombkowski (Gr., Erie, Pa./McDowell) (7:17) made it 5-4, Olay inflated the margin to 6-4 (7:01), Dombkowski (5:31, man-up) trimmed the margin to 6-5 and Rhoads (5:15) completed a hat-trick to expand SFU’s lead back to a pair at 7-5.
Marley Hanlon (So., Orlando, Fla./Lake Mary) sliced Mercyhurst’s deficit to 7-6 (4:39), Sam Eschleman (So., Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) returned the lead to a pair at 8-6 (2:10), Grace Brzyski (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette) inched Mercyhurst back to within one at 8-7 (1:54), Adi Garges (So., Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) made it 9-7 (1:30) and DombkowskI (1:10) concluded scoring in the first half as Saint Francis entered the break clutching a narrow 9-8 advantage on the scoreboard.
Saint Francis began to acquire some breathing room in the third quarter as Olay (3:47, 1:41) and Megan Marlin (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Marcus) (2:11) combined for a trio of tallies compared to a pair by Dombkowski (3:37) and Brzyski (41 seconds) to provide the Red Flash with a 12-10 spread heading into the fourth quarter.
Olay expanded the lead to a trio of scores at 13-10 by swishing a shot with 6:57 left in regulation, but Brzyski (6:26) fired back via a man-up strike at 5:59 to keep the Lakers within striking distance at 13-11.
SFU put the contest out of reach over the next two minutes as Olay deposited man-up (5:59) and natural (4:20) scores before Claire Gebhardt (Fr., Erie, Pa./McDowell) delivered the final blow with 17 seconds remaining to establish the 16-11 final score.
For Mercyhurst – which returned to the CWPA prior to the 2025 season and holds prior eighth (2008-eight teams), ninth (2015-10 teams), 10th (2011-11 teams; 2012-12 teams) and 12th (2013-12 teams) place finishes at the Eastern/CWPA Championship – Dombkowski (four) and Brzyski (three) combined for seven of the Lakers’ 11 goals. Henneman, Hanlon, Mastrangelo and Domaracki each notched solo scores in support of a five save effort by netminder Marley Ramon (Sr., Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque).
Olay (seven) and Rhoads (three) combined for 10 of SFU’s 16 goals with Maioriello, Eschleman, Marlin, Garges and Gebhardt accounting for the other six as the Red Flash claim their third win of the season against the Lakers following 13-8 (February 8, at Bucknell University) and 14-10 (Mach 22, at the University of Michigan) victories during the regular season. Grace Raquel (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Naperville) (four saves, eight goals allowed) and Eilis Rogis (Fr., Canberra, Australia/Canberra College) (four saves, three goals allowed) combined for eight saves.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Mercyhurst University (5-24, 0-12 CWPA) | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | – | 11 |
| Saint Francis University (14-17, 2-10 CWPA) | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | – | 16 |
| SFU Goals: | Caylah Olay (7); Kayla Rhoads (3); Breeze Ohlson; Sofia Maioriello; Sam Eschleman; Megan Marlin; Adi Garges; Claire Gebhardt | |||||
| Mercyhurst Goals: | Allie Dombkowski (4); Grace Brzyski (3); Eva Henneman; Marley Hanlon; Victoria Mastrangelo; Krista Domaracki | |||||
| Saves: | SFU – Grace Raquel (4, 16 minutes), Eilis Rogis (4, 16 minutes) ; Mercyhurst – Marley Ramon (5) | |||||
| Exclusions: | SFU – 6 ; Mercyhurst – 5 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | SFU – 2-for-5; Mercyhurst – 1-for-6 | |||||
| Sprints: | SFU – 1-for-4 (4th) ; Mercyhurst – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 3rd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | Mercyhurst – YC (Head coach Blair MacDougall, 12 seconds left in 2nd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Joe Peila, Tony Karaman | |||||
Saint Francis University’s Adi Garges (#7) attempts a shot against Mercyhurst University goalkeeper Marley Ramon (#1)
Saint Francis University’s Sam Eschleman (#11) races out to defend Mercyhurst University’s Freya Green (#6)
