PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island - After opening the season at Indiana, Salem women's water polo took the trek to New England this weekend to compete in the Bruno Classic hosted by Brown and Harvard. Salem faced some tough opposition all weekend, but were able to pull away with a pair of wins. All four contests of the weekend played out as follows:

Wagner 17, Salem 7

To open the weekend on Saturday morning, the Tigers met up with the Wagner Seahawks. It was a slow day for the Tigers offensively with just 4 goals to Wagner's 9 in the first half. The Tigers made a valiant effort down the stretch, but it was simply too little too late. Statistically, Kristen Hemmila led the way for Salem, and Kara Wicht finished just behind her with 2 goals.

Salem 14, Siena 7

Despite the opening loss, Salem bounced back in their second contest against Siena. It was a tight game early on with both teams adding a pair of goals in the first. Salem then unleashed a potent offensive attack that yielded them 5 goals in the second, and another 4 goals in the third. That clearly put the Tigers in the driver's seat, and they cruised to the 14-7 win over Siena. In the game, Salem was led offensively by 4 goals each from Kristen Hemmila and Lucy Bramwell with Milica Zelic added 3 goals as well. 

Salem 13, Iona 11

On Sunday morning, Salem had another tight ballgame on their hands against Iona. Salem took a 3-1 lead in the first, but Iona surged right back to make it a close 6-5 favoring Salem going into the half. In the second half, the Tigers went goal for goal with the Gaels the whole way, and ended up winning a hard-fought 13-11 contest over Iona. Statistically, Salem got 2 goals each from Lucy Bramwell and Courtney Repinz. The Tigers also had 2 goals each from Emma Donnelly and Kristen Hemmila. 

Villanova 19, Salem 8

In the final matchup of the weekend, Salem did battle with the Villanova Wildcats. It was another rough day for the Tigers offensively with the Wildcats holding Salem scoreless in the first. The Tigers added a pair in second, but needed a big second half rally to get back into the game. They got the beginnings of such a rally with 6 goals in the second half, but it was simply not enough to maintain pace with Villanova. Therefore, Salem fell 19-8 to the Wildcats. Statistically, Salem was led by 2 goals each from Lucy Bramwell, Emma Donnelly, and Kristen Hemmila. 

With these two big wins, Salem will be energized going into their next round of contests. The Tigers will be heading out to the desert to compete in the Arizona State Invitational on February 15th and 16th for contests against California State-Fullerton, Iona, Long Island, and host Arizona State.