ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College water polo team began play at the Carthage Tournament with a loss to Washington & Jefferson and a victory over Utica Friday afternoon. The Scots followed up a 16-6 loss to W & J with a 16-6 win over Utica.

In the defeat to Washington & Jefferson, Macalester used goals by first years Natalie Hoffman (Seattle, Wash./Inglemoor) and Lucille Moran (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) to take a 2-0 lead. The Presidents responded with six straight goals in an 8-1 run that put the game out of reach. Moran finished with three goals, with Hoffman adding two goals and senior Zexin Nai (Singapore/Hwa Chong) scoring once.

Against Utica, sophomore Hannah Gray (Pasadena, Calif./South Pasadena) found the net three times and Hoffman scored twice to put the Scots on top, 5-1. After building an 8-2 advantage through two quarters, Macalester tallied eight goals in the third quarter alone to take a commanding 16-4 lead. Hoffman had three of her team-best six goals in the third quarter, while Gray finished with four goals and Nai and senior Elizabeth Harte (Moorpark, Calif./Moorpark) scored two goals apiece.

Senior goalkeeper Emma Swanson (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) registered nine saves in goal for the Scots to preserve the win.

Macalester concludes play at Carthage with three matches. The Scots face Grove City at 10:15 a.m., Penn St.-Behrend at 2:00 p.m. and Carthage at 7:00 p.m. All three matches will be streamed live and can be accessed on Macalester's Stretch Internet portal here: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/macalester/

MAC – 2 2 2 0 - 6
W&J – 4 5 3 4 - 16
Macalester goals: Moran 3, Hoffman 2, Nai 1

MAC – 3 5 8 0 - 16
UC - 1 1 2 2 - 6
Macalester goals: Hoffman 6, Gray 4, Harte 2, Nai 2, Finney 1, Blake-Yazu 1