Feb. 16, 2008

Loudonville, N.Y. - The Siena water polo team dropped three hard fought contests in their first games of the year, falling to Maryland, Bucknell and Princeton this afternoon at the Princeton Invitational. The Saints fell by scores of 8-3 to Maryland, 14-5 to Bucknell and 12-1 to Princeton.

In their season opening contest against Maryland, the Saints pulled as close as 4-2 at the midway point of the game following goals by Lauren Biehle and Jackie Crosby. Devan Ragg tallied a goal in the third but the Terps were able to fend off a late Siena rally to hold on for the 8-3 victory.

Lisa Reilly was strong between the pipes for the Saints, turning away 11 Maryland shots, while Molly Chamberlain recorded three steals and Nicole Hagi added two. Biehle also added three ejections along with her goal.

In game two of the invitational against Bucknell, the Saints again received strong performances from their deep and talented freshman class as Ragg tallied two more goals. Lisa Reilly recorded 12 more saves, while Lauren Garrigan drew two ejections.

In the final game of the day, Siena ran out of gas as they fell to host Princeton. Hagi notched the Saints lone score in a strong defensive showing in which the Green and Gold drew seven total ejections. Reilly and transfer Lynh Nguyen added five saves apiece.

Siena will conclude the weekend long Princeton Invitational with one more game when they battle George Washington at 3 p.m.