GW Women's Water Polo Set for CWPA Championship
4/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
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April 23, 2015
WHO: GW Women's Water Polo (12-14, 1-8 CWPA)
WHAT: CWPA Championship | Tournament Central | Program
WHERE: DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, N.J. | Directions
WHEN: Friday, April 24 - Sunday, April 26
HOW: Buy Tickets
VIDEO: Watch Live
TWITTER: @GW_WaterPolo | #RaiseHigh
WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's water polo team heads to Princeton, New Jersey, this weekend for the three-day Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship at Princeton University's DeNunzio Pool. The ninth-seeded Colonials will face No. 8 Mercyhurst in the first round on Friday at 10:30 a.m.
The winner of the GW-Mercyhurst game moves on to face top-seeded and 12th-ranked Princeton, the 2014 CWPA runner-up, on Friday at 4:30 p.m., while the loser will play on Saturday at 2:20 p.m. against either second-seeded and 18th-ranked Michigan, seventh-seeded Bucknell or 10th-seeded Connecticut College, the CWPA Division III champion. The tournament concludes on Sunday with placement games.
Princeton and Michigan, the top two seeds in the CWPA Championship, earn a first-round bye. No. 11 Indiana earned the third seed, while Harvard, which is receiving votes in this week's national poll, is slotted fourth. No. 20 Hartwick is the fifth seed, followed by Brown (6th), Bucknell (7th), Mercyhurst (8th), GW (9th) and Connecticut College (10th).
The winner of the CWPA Championship will earn an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Championship.
GW last qualified for the CWPA Championship in 2013, placing eighth out of 12 teams. The Colonials' highest-ever finish at the tournament was seventh in 2003.
GW (12-14, 1-8 CWPA) dropped a pair of games on Saturday to CWPA rivals Brown and Harvard in Providence, Rhode Island. Junior Hannah Cox and freshman Scarlett Hallahan each scored five goals in the two games.
The Colonials' freshman class of Hallahan, Jacqueline Bywater, Erin McGeoy, Maddie Goodell, Maggie Ball and Megan Belliveau has produced 65.5 percent of GW's goals (190 of 290), 69 percent of the team's assists (133 of 192) and 67 percent of its steals (239 of 356) this season.
Bywater broke the Colonials' single-season record with 75 goals and 131 points on the year, and her 56 assists and 83 steals rank second all-time. Hallahan is right behind Bywater with 72 goals, the second-most ever by a Colonial, and her 107 points rank third. It marks the first time in program history that a pair of Colonials have tallied 70 goals and 100 points in the same season. The duo has combined to be named CWPA Rookie of the Week six times this season. Hallahan also has 13 field blocks on the year, second on the team and tied for fourth on GW's single-season list.
Junior Hannah Cox is third on the team with 53 goals in 2015 - the first player in program history to score 50 or more goals twice in her career - and she recently became the seventh Colonial ever with 150 goals in her career. Cox now ranks fifth all-time at GW with 155 goals, just 20 shy of former teammate Rachael Bentley's program record of 175, set from 2011-14. Cox is also second on the team with 31 ejections drawn this season.
Sophomore Maddy Johnson has posted career highs across the board in 2015, ranking third on the team with 34 assists, 69 points and 36 steals and fourth with 35 goals and 20 ejections drawn. McGeoy leads the Colonials with 41 ejections drawn, the second-most ever by a GW freshman, to go with her 24 goals, 13 assists and 28 steals.
Ball, who was named CWPA Defensive Player of the Week on March 18, ranks second on the team with 66 steals, the fifth-highest single-season total in program history and the third-most ever by a Colonial rookie, and her 14 field blocks are a GW freshman record and rank third on the program's single-season list. Goodell is fourth on the team with 25 assists and adds 25 steals, and senior Mikaela Pyrch is tied for fourth with 35 steals.
Senior goalkeeper Chandler Vilander, a four-year starter, has recorded a career-high 204 saves this season, the seventh-highest single-season total in program history, and her 706 career saves rank fourth all-time at GW. She is the third-ever Colonial goalie to stop 200 shots twice in her career.
As a team, GW's 290 goals on the year are the second-highest single-season total in program history, just 28 shy of the all-time record of 318, set in 2013. In addition, the Colonials' 192 assists are tied for third-most, while their 356 steals rank fourth. GW has also set a program mark with 56 field blocks this season.
Mercyhurst (11-11, 2-7 CWPA) has dropped four of its last five contests, including a season-ending 17-4 loss to No. 12 Indiana. Kennedy Watson paces the Lakers with 64 goals, 80 points and 34 steals on the season. Goalkeepers Rachel Stock and Jesse Sworden have split time in cage, combining for 188 saves.
GW is 7-2 all-time against Mercyhurst and had won seven straight goals before dropping a 15-14 overtime decision to the Lakers on March 1. Cox scored five goals in the game while McGeoy netted a hat trick and Bywater tallied six points on two goals and four assists and added six steals. Goodell chipped in five helpers and three steals in the game and Vilander made nine saves.
Tickets to the CWPA Championship are $10 for a one-day pass or $25 for the entire tournament. Senior citizens 65 and older will be admitted at discounted prices of $5 per day or $12 for all three days. Children 12 and under are free of charge.
For fans who cannot attend the event, the CWPA will broadcast the entire tournament at a cost of $10 per game or $25 for a weekend pass that includes all games.
