ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings women's water polo team picked up a pair of conference wins on Saturday, defeating the Carthage Firebirds by a score of 11-2 before knocking off the No. 10 Macalester Scots by a final of 8-7.

Game One (W 11-2 vs. Carthage)

Augustana jumped out to a 3-1 advantage after the first eight minutes in the first game of the day against the Firebirds. Casey Barragan got things started with a goal just over a minute into the contest, followed by consecutive scores from Lauren Dickinson. Carthage earned one back with 38 seconds left in the opening frame.

The Vikings had another big quarter in the second, this time out-scoring the Firebirds 4-1 to take a 7-2 lead into halftime. Charlotte Newport accounted for three goals in the period, with Barragan grabbing her second right before intermission. Augustana closed out the game with a pair of goals in each of the third and fourth quarter, seeing two from Ocean Akau and one each from Newport and Barragan to bring the score to its 11-2 final.

-----

Game Two (W 8-7 vs. Macalester)

The Augustana defense was on display in the opening quarter of game two, holding the Scots scoreless through the first 14 minutes of play. The Vikings took a 2-0 lead after one quarter of action as Newport tallied a pair of scores to give Augie the early advantage. Each team sent two goals into the back of the net in the second to keep the differential at two in favor of Augustana.

Macalester cut the deficit in half with a 2-1 advantage in the third quarter. Akau answered the Macalester score early in the third, but was met with one more from the Scots prior to heading into the fourth. Goals from Barragan and Dickinson pushed the Augie lead to three, but Macalester fought back with two goals in a span of 14 seconds to bring the score to 7-6 with 1:29 to go. The two teams exchanged points over the course of the next 22 seconds, setting up an 8-7 game with a minute to go.

The Scots had one final possession under 20 seconds to attempt to even the score, but a shot clock violation turned the ball back over to the Vikings, who proceeded to run out the clock and escape with the one-point win.

Newport and Dickinson each posted multi-goal games in the victory, while Lizzie Pelzman collected 11 saves in net.

The Vikings improve to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in conference with the wins. Augustana will close out their weekend at home on Sunday against No. 9 Austin at 9 a.m.