Oct. 29, 2005
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The 12th-ranked Navy water polo team advanced to the CWPA Southern Division championship game with a hard-fought 9-8 victory over 18th-ranked Bucknell. The win moves Navy's record to 19-6 overall and sets up a showdown with 15th-ranked Princeton for the Southern Division tournament title, tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., in MacDonough Hall's Scott Natatorium. The Mids defeated Princeton just two weeks ago in the same pool, 9-7.
"We played well enough to win, but it definitely wasn't one of our better efforts," said Navy head coach Michael Schofield. "We will definitely have to play much better tomorrow to beat Princeton."
Navy trailed 2-1 after one quarter to the Bison, but surged ahead to lead 5-3 at halftime. Navy led 7-6 after three quarters and held on for a 9-8 victory. Jordan Gentry and Michael Mulvey each scored three times to lead Navy, while Alex Ratcliffe tallied two goals and Aaron Recko netted one for Navy. George Naughton made eight saves in the nets for Navy.
"Mulvey and Recko had big goals for us tonight," said Schofield. "They really lifted us in the third quarter."
The Mids went 2-of-5 on 6-on-5 opportunities, while Bucknell went 3-of-8.
The win enabled Navy to reach 19 wins in a season for the 24th straight season.
# GO NAVY #
