SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- The Washington & Jefferson College women's water polo team dropped a pair of matches Saturday at Wittenberg University. The Presidents fell by a 10-5 score to Division II Mercyhurst University. In the nightcap, the Presidents dropped a 12-8 decision to the host Tigers. 

Mercyhurst 10, W&J 5

Ryley McClellan (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) scored four times in the opener for W&J. 

Megan DePrez (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) gave the Presidents a brief lead when she scored the first goal of the game. However, the Lakers countered with three straight goals to lead 3-1 after the first quarter. Both teams tallied a goal in the second quarter as Mercyhurst took a 4-2 lead into the break. McClellan scored at the 2:44 mark of the frame to trim the deficit back to two goals. 

The third quarter featured the most scoring in the contest. The Lakers were able to tally three of the five third quarter goals to push its lead to 7-4. McClellan scored both third quarter goals for W&J. Mercyhurst put the game away by scoring three of the four goals in the fourth. 

Alliey Cunningham (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) recorded a career-high 18 saves against the Lakers. 

Wittenberg 12, W&J 8

The host Tigers led 4-2 after the first and 6-3 at halftime. The Presidents surged into the lead by scoring all four goals in the third quarter. Kate McKiernan (Columbus, N.J. / Pennington) and DePrez tallied back-to-back scores to even the game at 6-6 with less than four minutes to play in the third. W&J then capitalized on that momentum to take its first lead a few minutes later. Sydney Neumann (Long Beach, Calif. / Millikan) found the back of the net at the 2:17 mark to make it 7-6 W&J. 

Unfortunately for the Presidents, the Tigers scored six of the seven goals in the fourth quarter to claim the victory. 

McClellan paced the Presidents offensively with another four-goal output. Four other Presidents scored in the contest, which also included Anastacia Didovich (Venice, Fla. / Venice). 

McClellan has been a force early on this season. The senior has scored 22 goals in five games. 

Cunningham finished with 11 saves in the match versus the Tigers. 

W&J returns to competition at home on Saturday, March 11. The Presidents will face Wittenberg (10 a.m.) and Gannon (3 p.m.).