Villanova rally spoils water polo home opener

ORANGE, Calif. – A second-half rally by the Villanova University women's water polo team stunned Chapman University and spoiled the Panthers' home opener suffering a 12-10 defeat by the visiting Wildcats at the Allred Pool on Wednesday night. Villanova (10-8) rallied from a four-goal third-quarter deficit to beat Chapman for the second time in four days.

Things appeared to be going well for Chapman (1-5) in the third quarter as it went on a 3-1 run early to turn a two-goal halftime lead into a 9-5 advantage with 5:05 to go in the period. Senior attacker Emily Holmquist scored one of her two goals early in the quarter and sophomore 2-meter Emily Fong's goal gave the Panthers a four-goal lead.

However, the Wildcats came storming back with five consecutive goals (from five different players) over the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters to regain their first lead since 2-1 back in the first period. One of Villanova's goals came from Dominque Clark, who led all players with four goals in the game.

Chapman senior utility Riley Ford scored with 4:01 remaining in the game to even the score at 10, but Villanova answered back with two goals in the final 1:51 to earn the win. It was the Wildcats' second win over Chapman this week, defeating the Panthers 9-5 at the Tina Finali Tournament at Cal Lutheran on Sunday.

The loss spoiled a tremendous effort by senior Kirsten Spicer in goal. The veteran made a career-high 18 saves, just two shy of the Chapman single-game record. She added a pair of steals as well. Fong earned four assists for the Panthers in defeat.

Chapman will travel to the Claremont Convergence this weekend before returning home on Monday to host Connecticut College at Allred Pool at 4 p.m.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

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