Oct. 2, 2005
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 13th-ranked Navy water polo team split a pair of league games over the weekend, falling to 12th-ranked Princeton, 8-6, and defeating Salem International, 15-8. Both games took place at Princeton and counted towards the CWPA Southern Division league standings. The Mids' record now stands at 12-6 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Division.
In the first game, Navy led 2-1 after the first quarter, but Princeton ran off five unanswered goals in the second quarter to grab a 6-2 halftime lead. The Tigers stretched the lead to 8-3 after three quarters, before Navy mounted a furious rally that ultimately ended up short. Princeton held on for an 8-6 victory to grab first place in the Southern Division standings.
"We had our chances, but just couldn't capitalize," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We were down 8-3 entering the fourth quarter. We scored three goals in the first minute-and-a-half to make it 8-6. We then had three or four more point-blank chances that we couldn't convert on, and that was the game."
Andrew Plumb and Bram Arnold scored twice for the Mids, while Tyler Hill and Aaron Recko netted one goal each. George Naughton record four saves and four steals in the nets. Despite the loss, Schofield may have found a recipe for success for later matches.
"We threw our fastest players into the game in the fourth quarter to try and wreak some havoc and get us back in the game, and they performed well," said Schofield. "I thought the fourth quarter was encouraging for us after a tough first three quarters. We just weren't in it mentally from the start. We were really looking forward to the game, so on that end it was a very frustrating outcome."
In the second game, the Mids cruised to a 15-8 triumph over Salem International. SIU was playing in its third game of the day and it showed as Navy jumped out to a 5-1 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
"We wanted to get off to a good start and we accomplished that," said Schofield. "But we let up and really gave them all eight of their goals. We would like to see them earn them instead of giving them goals. That is definitely something we will have to work on this week."
Jordan Gentry and Andrew Plumb led the way with three goals, while Michael Mulvey, Tyler Hill and Dan Zoellick tallied two goals. Jordan Flacco, Todd Carlson and Bram Arnold netted one goal each. Naughton made six saves and three steals in three quarters of action. Marek Malik and Andrew Neuwirth split the fourth quarter in goal and each gave up one goal.
Navy will be back in action with a pair of league games on Tuesday. At 4:00 p.m., the Mids will battle Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, then travel down the road for an 8:00 p.m., tilt versus George Washington in Washington, D.C.
# GO NAVY #
