The Salem University women's water polo team recorded a 10-goal first period in its first game and staved off a late rally in its final game of the weekend as the Tigers posted a 2-1 record in the Grove City Invitational at Grove City, Pa. The Tigers defeated host Grove City 23-3 and fell to Virginia Military Institute 14-11 Friday. The Tigers held off Mercyhurst University 12-9 Saturday morning.
 
Salem (11-8) needed less than 90 seconds to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the opener against Grove City as Margherita Garibbo scored a pair of goals. The margin quickly doubled as Garibbo found Chloe Woodbine in front of the net for a goal and Erin Zappia converted a penalty shot with 5:24 left in the opening period.
 
Annefleur ten Bloemendal, who drew an exclusion on a potential fast break to set up Zappia's penalty, followed with a goal of her own 30 seconds later. Grove City got on the scoreboard after a quick timeout, but Beatrice Popescu answered immediately with a goal to make the score 6-1.
 
Another penalty shot by Zappia followed another ten Bloemendal goal and Popescu scored again with exactly two minutes left. Salem reached double figures for the period when Garibbo scored with 14 seconds left and Elizabeth Elliott blocked a last-second shot attempt as the Tigers led 10-1 after eight minutes of play.
 
The margin reached double figures on Woodbine's goal early in the second period and Zappia's third penalty shot of the half capped a 9-0 run and extended the Tigers' lead to 14-1. Grove City scored the next two goals, but Salem kept the Wolverines out of the net the remainder of the contest. Popescu's goal with 3:46 left to play gave the Tigers their third 20-goal performance in five games.
 
Salem scored 23 goals on just 30 shot attempts for a season-high .767 shooting percentage.
 
Garibbo led Salem with five goals, five assists and four steals. Zappia finished with four goals and five assists, while ten Bloemendal also had four goals. Popescu, Maryanna Antoniou and Courtney O'Shaughnessy each tallied five points. Philippa Piper recorded 14 saves and two assists.
 
Against Mercyhurst, the Tigers took advantage of an early exclusion as Garibbo scored a power play goal in the opening minute of the contest. Zappia added a power play goal 90 seconds later and ten Bloemendal scored with 4:05 remaining in the first period.
 
Woodbine capped the early scoring run and gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead with 2:08 left. Mercyhurst got on the scoreboard in the final minute after a timeout, but Antoniou's goal with 19 seconds left closed out the scoring in the opening period and gave Salem a 5-1 lead.
 
The Tigers led 7-4 at halftime and Mercyhurst pulled within two goals twice in the final period. Woodbine answered with a goal each time and ten Bloemendal's penalty shot with 1:28 left to play pushed the lead to 12-8 to help secure the win.
 
Woodbine led all players with four goals for Salem. Antoniou finished with three goals, as did ten Bloemendal, who also recorded four assists. Garibbo sparked the Tigers defensively with five steals. Piper recorded 10 saves in goal to give her three straight double-digit performances during the weekend.
 
The first half against Virginia Military Institute saw six ties as Salem matched VMI goal-for-goal. O'Shaughnessy's penalty shot with 4:35 left before halftime tied the game 6-6. But VMI held the Tigers scoreless the remainder of the half and the entire third period to build a 10-6 advantage.
 
Salem ended its scoring drought as ten Bloemendal sparked a three-goal spurt in the span of 50 seconds early in the fourth period. After assisting on a power play goal by Antoniou with 7:02 left, ten Bloemendal scored back-to-back goals off assists from Piper to pull the Tigers within 10-9 with 6:12 remaining.
 
VMI answered with a goal 17 seconds later and Salem never got closer than two goals the rest of the way.
 
Garibbo led the Tigers with four goals and four steals, while Woodbine added three goals. Piper finished with 16 saves.
 
After five straight weekends in Pennsylvania, the Tigers will head even further east next weekend as Salem competes in the Harvard Invite in Boston, Mass. The Tigers won't face host Harvard University, but will take on Division I Brown University, Siena College and Iona College. Salem concludes play next Sunday against Cal State University-East Bay in a rematch from last year's WWPA Tournament.