POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Seeking its first conference victory of the season, the Virginia Military Institute water polo team accomplished the feat on the second day of its New York trip by topping Villanova, 10-6, Sunday afternoon at the McCann Natatorium in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The Keydets split the day as Iona College won a hard-fought battle in the morning with a 7-5 victory.
Against Villanova in the afternoon game, the Keydets jumped ahead early with two goals from Shelby Barkley in the first quarter to go up, 2-0, after one. The Wildcats tied it up midway through the second quarter, but Barkley added two more goals in the frame to put VMI ahead, 4-2, at the half. She would add a goal in the fourth quarter for a total of five in the match.
Mackenzie Perkins continued the momentum for the Keydets early in the third quarter with her first of three goals in the second half. Villanova's Dominique Clark and Sarina Shibata each scored a pair for the Wildcats in the final two periods, but two goals from VMI's Celine Lazzaro helped solify the win for the Keydets.
VMI outshot Villanova by a 34-28 margin and had six exclusions to the Wildcats' eight. The Keydets also capitalized on two of eight powerplays while Villanova went 0-6.
Keydet keeper Emily Farsakian earned the win with eight saves while Villanova's Julie Conrath had a loss with 13 saves.
vs. Iona
The Gaels struck first with two goals in the opening period before VMI's Celine Lazzaro put one in off an assist from Sophia DelBondio to cut the disadvantage to 2-1 going into the second quarter. The teams would go scoreless for most of the second frame before both scored in the final minute to give Iona a slim 3-2 lead at halftime. VMI's Rebecca Serrano was credited with the unassisted goal for the Keydets.
Mackenzie Perkins scored a goal for VMI at the 3:10 mark of the third period in between two Gael scores. Heading into the fourth quarter down two, the Keydets tried for the comeback with two goals but were matched by two scores from the Gaels to produce the final 7-5 result. Bailey Huddleston scored before Perkins added another on for the Keydets in the closing moments.
The teams were evenly matched throughout, with the Gaels holding a slight 28-25 shots advantage while the Gaels had 12 exclusions to the Keydets' 10. Both struggled on powerplay opportunities as Iona went 1-9 while the Keydets went 0-11.
Iona's Dana Delucchi earned the win as a keeper with six saves while VMI's Emily Farsakian picked up the loss with eight saves.
VMI returns home to host four games this weekend as it hosts Siena (9 a.m.) and Marist (4 p.m.) on Saturday followed by Sunday matchups with St. Francis (12 p.m.) and Villanova (5:30 p.m.). All games will be played on post at Clark King Pool.
