PROVIDENCE, RI- Three Hartwick players recorded a hat trick as the women's water polo team defeated Bucknell 15-6 on Saturday afternoon at the CWPA Eastern Championship held at Brown University's Katherine Moran Coleman Athletic Center.
Lisa Bass (Montreal, Quebec),
Alyssa Analytis (Montreal, Quebec) and
Sasha Freeborn (Auckland, New Zealand) each recorded a hat-trick to share Player of the Game honors for the Hawks.
Kamila Zakirova (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and
Sami Capparelli (Miami, FL) both scored twice while
Shannon Leonard (Ponte Clair, Quebec) and
Allison Kosich (Stockton, CA) both added one goal.
Haley Cox (El Segundo, CA) had six saves for 'Wick in the cage.
For the Bison, Heather Smith and Krystle Morgan had two goals each. Sayeh Bozoroghadad and Taylor Barrett had one goal each.
Rena Heim had nine saves in goal for Bucknell.
Facing the Bison for the second time this season after downing Bucknell 15-9 during the regular season, the Hawks opened the game with a scoring flurry. Freeborn began the barrage 1:23 into the contest as she connected on a shot at 6:37. Analytis followed with natural (5:59) and man-up (4:51) goals before Freeborn tacked on her second score in the opening four minutes of play with a rising blast that drew nothing but net (3:58) for a 4-0 lead 4:02 into the game.
Bucknell cut into the margin at the conclusion of the quarter as Smith scored with 50 seconds on the clock to put away the first of two goals on the afternoon.
The Bison pulled back to within six prior to the end of the first half as Morgan pushed across a ball with 14 seconds on the clock to make it an 8-2 game.
Hartwick hammered out four more goals to begin the second half as Capparelli, Zakirova
, and Leonard registered scores at 6:06, 5:29 and 38 seconds with a man-up tally by Bass at 1:08 comprising the run.
Overall, Hartwick outscored Bucknell 7-4 in the second half, including a 2-0 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, to take the nine-goal win.
The Hawks now advance to the fifth-place game tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of Indiana-Harvard.
