Bison Women’s Water Polo remained on the road for their second week of the 2023 season as the team headed to the Bruno Classic in Providence, R.I.

The Bison dominated Austin College and Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 4, and faced strong competition in Wagner and Marist on Sunday, Feb. 5. The Orange and Blue finished the weekend 2-2.

The Bison opened the weekend against Austin College in a strong performance, getting on the board first from an Isabelle Monaghan ’24 goal just seven minutes into the match. The Kangaroos tied the game a few minutes later, but the Bison netted five more goals, leading them 6-1 at the end of the half.

The Bison and Kangaroos scored four goals apiece in the second half, ending the match 10-5 and resulting in the first Bison victory of the season.

Building off this momentum, the Orange and Blue took on Santa Clara in their second game of the day. From the opening whistle, both teams battled, with the Bison having only a slight edge over the Broncos heading into halftime, 5-4.

It was the second half that proved to be all the difference for the Bison. After the Broncos fought back to a 6-6 tie, the Bison took the lead once again, ending the third quarter 9-7. It was ultimately a Monaghan goal, with less than four minutes remaining, that led the Bison to an 11-10 victory. 

The Orange and Blue opened play on Sunday against their recent opponent, No. 17 Wagner. The Seahawks offense dominated the Bison in the first half, taking a 8-1 lead. The Orange and Blue continued to fight, putting up six more goals in the second half. However, this was not enough to stop the Seahawks who took a 21-7 victory.

The Bison closed out the four-game weekend against No. 22 Marist. Even while tying their season high in goals scored, the Bison could not stop the Red Fox offense. In the first half, both teams scored a combined 14 goals, with the Red Foxes leading 8-6. The Bison put up five more goals of their own in the second half, however the Red Foxes doubled that, ending the match 18-11, in favor of Marist.

“Different players contributed to the scores on the first day and we had some great communication, which will only burgeon as we progress throughout the season,”  Monaghan said. “We are eager for our next game and incredibly excited to be on our home turf this weekend!”