VILLANOVA, Pa. (January 26, 2025) – Mount St. Mary's women's water polo split the second day of the Wildcat Invitational with a 12-6 loss to Villanova and a 16-11 over MAAC rivals Iona. With their win over the Gaels, the Mountaineers start the year with a 3-1 record through their first tournament weekend.
 
Villanova 12, Mount St. Mary's 6
 
Team                          1    2    3    4    F 
Mount St. Mary's              1    3    0    2    6
Villanova                     3    6    1    2    12
 
Goals: Kegel 2, Radaelli 2, Valentine 1, Wilson 1
 
Saves: Fernie 14
 
To start their third match of the weekend against the hosts, the Mountaineers lost out early with the first quarter ending in a 3-1 advantage for the Wildcats. Villanova scored a further six goals in the second quarter heading into the halftime break up 9-4. A close quarter was battled over in the third, but a goal from Villanova sealed another victorious quarter and eventually the game.
 
Anna Kegel and Anita Radaelli scored a brace of goals followed by solo scores from Rebecca Valentine and Taylor Wilson. Radaelli also drew four exclusions for the team. In the cage for the entirety of the match, Olivia Fernie recorded 14 saves for the Mountaineers.
 
 
Mount St. Mary's 16, Iona 11
 
Team                          1    2    3    4    F 
Mount St. Mary's              3    4    5    3    16
Iona                          2    0    1    4    11
 
Goals: Kegel 4, Radaelli 4, Horan 3, Vieira 1, Currie 1, Pascual 1
 
Saves: Enquist 8
 
In the final match of the weekend, the Mountaineers played to a close, but victorious 3-2 first quarter against the Gaels. But a 4-0 run in the second quarter by the Mount truly began to distance the contest heading into halftime. The team then followed this up by scoring five goals in the third quarter followed by three more in the final quarter for a score of 16-11.
 
Both Kegel and Radaelli followed up their previous offensive showing with four goals apiece, followed by a hat trick from Leilani Horan and a pair of goals from Rebecca Valentine. Horan and Radaelli also noted five assists each during the game. Becca Enquist recorded eight saves in the cage against the Gaels.
 
UPCOMING
 
The Mountaineers travel to Lexington, Virginia next week to face off against Saint Franis (PA), Bucknell, Austin, and Gannon at the Virginia Military Institute Invitational.