GW Women's Water Polo Opens CWPA Play at Home
4/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
 |  | Follow @GW_WaterPolo |
April 7, 2016
GW vs. Brown -- Saturday, 11 a.m. | Watch on RaiseHigh Live
GW vs. #21 Hartwick -- Saturday, 5:30 p.m. | Watch on RaiseHigh Live
GW vs. Bucknell -- Sunday, 10 a.m. | Watch on RaiseHigh Live
BACK IN ACTION: Following a nearly month-long hiatus from competition, the GW women's water polo team returns to the pool this weekend to open Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) play. The Colonials will host a trio of league rivals at the Charles E. Smith Center Pool, starting with a doubleheader against Brown (11 a.m.) and No. 21 Hartwick (5:30 p.m.) on Saturday. GW concludes the weekend against Bucknell on Sunday at 10 a.m.
SENIOR SALUTE: Prior to GW's first game of the weekend against Brown on Saturday morning, the Colonials will honor seniors Addy Colona and Hannah Cox and graduate student Mikaela Pyrch in a Senior Day ceremony.
COLONIALS IN CALI: GW (6-9) has not played since going 3-3 on its annual spring break trip to California March 11-16. The Colonials defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 22 Iona at the Lancer Invite and concluded their week with a 9-8 win at Chapman. The victory over Iona was the Colonials' first over a ranked opponent since at least 2006. Sophomore Scarlett Hallahan led GW with 11 goals, eight assists and 15 steals across the six games, while sophomore Jacqueline Bywater and senior Hannah Cox scored 10 goals apiece. In addition, sophomore Erin McGeoy recorded a team-best 12 ejections drawn on the trip and freshman goalkeeper Katherine Moeller recorded 36 saves while allowing just 34 goals.
SETTING THE MARK: Senior Hannah Cox became GW's all-time leading scorer in the Colonials' game against Iona, surpassing former teammate Rachael Bentley's previous record of 175 from 2011-14, and she now has 182 goals in her career. Cox, who also ranks 10th all-time at GW in career points (194) and ejections drawn (96), is currently second on the team with 27 goals and 17 ejections drawn this season.
CENTURY MARK: Bywater scored the 100th goal of her career against La Verne on March 12 at the Lancer Invite, and she now has 104. She joins Cox and Hallahan (117) to give the Colonials three players with 100 career goals for the first time since Bentley and classmates Katherine Berry and Megan Brolley in 2014.
Hallahan leads GW with 36 goals, 16 assists and 32 steals this season, while Bywater is third with 22 goals and 25 steals.
SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown (8-18, 0-1 CWPA) is coming off a 17-10 win over Connecticut College on Wednesday. Olivia Santiago paced the Bears with six points (2g, 4a), while Marisa Kolokotronis and Jessica Heilman each notched a hat trick and goalkeeper Marisol Dakan recorded 11 saves in three quarters of play.
GW VS. BROWN ALL-TIME: The Colonials and Bears last met at the 2015 CWPA Championship at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool, a 10-3 win for Brown. Prior to that, the teams played back-to-back overtime contests in the 2014 and 2015 regular seasons, with the Bears coming away with a pair of one-goal victories. GW last defeated Brown in 2012. Cox has tallied 11 goals and three ejections drawn across four career games against the Bears.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS: No. 21 Hartwick (13-8, 1-0 CWPA) represents GW's seventh ranked opponent this season. The Hawks have not played since falling at No. 13 Harvard, 11-10, on March 24. Zsofia Polak paces Hartwick with 78 goals this season.
GW VS. HARTWICK ALL-TIME: The Colonials fell to the Hawks, 14-9, last season at Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium. Hallahan tallied six points (5g, 1a) and five steals to lead GW.
SCOUTING THE BISON: Bucknell (12-11) last played on March 26, an 11-4 win over Mercyhurst. Eleanor Marrs had three goals and three assists to pace the Bison and earn CWPA Player of the Week for her efforts. Hannah Sunday also notched a hat trick in the game. Marrs leads Bucknell with 93 points on 47 goals and a team-high 46 assists this season, while Sunday has scored a team-best 51 goals and is also tops on the squad with 74 ejections drawn.
GW VS. BUCKNELL ALL-TIME: Bucknell represents GW's most common opponent (55 games) since the program's inception in 2000, and the Colonials' 20 wins over the Bison are second only to their 32 wins over Villanova. The teams have already met twice this season -- at the Bison Invitational on Feb. 27 and at the Wolverine Invite a week later. The Colonials and Bison also met three times last season. Cox has tallied 14 goals and seven ejections drawn in her career against Bucknell, while Bywater has recorded seven goals, six assists and nine steals and Hallahan has six goals, four assists, eight steals and five field blocks.
ON TAP: The Colonials will visit St. Francis Brooklyn for a non-conference contest next Friday, April 15, before wrapping up the regular season with four CWPA matches at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool.
