Oct. 4, 2005

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The 13th-ranked Navy water polo team improved its record to 14-6 overall with a pair of impressive league victories over Johns Hopkins and George Washington. The Mids topped Johns Hopkins, 10-8, and George Washington, 14-3, with both games coming on the road on Tuesday night.

In the first game, a 10-8 decision over Johns Hopkins, Navy rallied from a 2-0 deficit after the first quarter to claim the victory. The Mids surged ahead 4-2 at halftime, then held a two-goal advantage at 7-5 after three quarters, before holding on for a 10-8 triumph.

"It was a very hard-fought game," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We played solid defense for the most part, but we needed to use our opportunities better. We missed two penalty shots and gave away a couple more. The defense really saved us."

Alex Ratcliffe and Aaron Recko scored three goals each for the Mids, while Jordan Gentry, Nick Macola, Todd Carlson and Mike Mulvey scored one goal each. Mulvey, Gentry and Recko also added six, four and three steals for Navy. George Naughton made five saves in goal and collected three steals. Schofield said the team received a boost from Macola, who was playing in his first game of the season after offseason shoulder surgery.

"We got some very timely plays from Macola. He had a timely goal and set up some other ones with some nice passes," said Schofield. "Our young guys played very well also."

In the second game, Navy took a 4-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back, outscoring George Washington, 10-1, the rest of the way for a 14-3 victory. The Mids outscored the Colonials, 8-0, in the second half.

"We played very well defensively against GWU," said Schofield. "Any time you can hold a team to three goals, you should have a lot of success."

Recko and Ratcliffe totaled three goals each, while Gentry and Andrew Plumb scored twice. Four other players netted one goal each. Naughton had an outstanding game in goal, making 12 saves, grabbing three steals and dishing out one assist in just three quarters of action. Steve Craney made two saves and Marek Malik and Andrew Neuwirth made one save each, all in the fourth quarter.

"We showed signs tonight of getting better, and that is very encouraging," said Schofield. "We get the weekend off to get healthy, get some rest, work on our studies and to get better basically."

Navy will be off until hosting three league games during the weekend of Oct. 14-15. The Mids will play Bucknell on Oct. 14, at 8:00 p.m., then host Salem International and Princeton on Saturday.

# GO NAVY #