ERIE, Pa. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women’s water polo team fell to host Mercyhurst University, 17-5, and Penn State Behrend, 21-7, on the first day of the 2026 Curtis Robinette Memorial Invitational at the Hallman Aquatics Center.
Against Mercyhurst, junior attacker Sophia Romo (Jupiter, Fla.) led the Lyons with a pair of goals, while sophomore attacker Fiona Swift (Red Hill, Pa.), first year center Avary Guge (Winchester, Calif.) and first year attacker Claudia Gagné (Orlando, Fla.) each had a goal and a steal for Wheaton. First year goalie Anduena Kraja (Chicago, Ill.) stopped a career-high 19 shots.
Mercyhurst received at least one goal from 11 different scorers in the game. First year utility player Bailey Dunn (Winter Garden, Fla.) and classmate Mercedes Feliciano Fernandez (Monterrey, Nuevo León) each netted a trio of goals for the home team. Senior attacker Krista Domaracki (South Elgin, Ill.) contributed two goals.
The Lakers ripped off 10 straight goals to open the game, including five from Dunn. Wheaton got on the board with back-to-back scores from Swift and Gagné to cut the deficit to 10-2 with 3:48 left in the second quarter.
Mercyhurst reeled off six unanswered markers, capped by a goal from first year center Adriana Boltes Moragues (Barcelona, Spain), to increase its advantage to 16-2 with 5:10 remaining in the contest. Romo netted the next two goals for the Lyons to pull them within 16-4 at the 2:54 mark of the quarter. First year center Kate Martin (Winter Garden, Fla.) and Guge each traded goals to set the final score.
In the late game against Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III foe Penn State Behrend in a non-conference contest, sophomore attacker Ryanna Ritting (Perkasie, Pa.) led Wheaton with six points on four goals and a pair of assists to go with two steals, while Guge netted a pair of goals and added an assist and two steals. Gagné scored a goal, drew three exclusions and came up with a pair of steals. Junior goalie Amelia Brown (Acton, Mass.) made four saves for the match.
First year utility player Karis Barth (Flower Mound, Texas) led all players with five goals for Penn State Behrend, while junior utility player Makenzie Rickerd (Rockford, Mich.) scored four times. Senior Darragh Martin (Green Lane, Pa.) finished with a trio of goals for the Lions.
PSB tallied the first five goals of the match, including a pair of goals from Rickerd. Ritting put the Lyons on the board at the 1:50 mark of the opening quarter to make it 5-1. The Lions struck for three more goals, capped by a marker from junior utility player Lauren True (Denton, Texas) to increase their advantage to 8-1. Ritting netted the next two goals for Wheaton to trim the margin to 8-3 with 6:10 remaining in the opening half.
Penn State netted the next five goals over the next nine minutes to balloon its margin to 13-3 with 5:15 left in the third quarter. The Lyons scored two of the next three goals, including goals from Gagné and Ritting to make it 14-5 with 3:04 showing on the fourth quarter clock.The Lions closed out the contest on a 7-2 run, paced by two goals each from sophomore utility player Priscilla Gil (Chicago, Ill.) and Rickerd.
Information courtesy Wheaton College Athletics Communications
