Sept. 11, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The No. 13-ranked Navy water polo team breezed to two easy wins at the Bucknell Invitational on Sunday, outscoring a pair of foes by a combined 32-11 margin. In the first game of the day, Navy outscored Iona, 11-3, in the final three quarters to defeat the Gaels, 15-6. In the second contest against Slippery Rock, Navy jumped out to a 10-2 halftime cushion and coasted to a 17-5 triumph. The wins improve Navy's record to 6-2 overall after completing the four-game sweep over the weekend.
"It was a good weekend for us," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We were able to win all four games and get a lot of players into the pool. Everyone who made the trip played at least eight quarters this weekend."
In the win over Iona, Navy led just 4-3 after one quarter, but outscored the Gaels, 5-0, in the second quarter to grab a 9-3 halftime advantage. The Mids stretched the margin to 11-4 after three quarters before setlling in for a 15-6 victory. Alex Ratcliffe (Coronado, Calif.) had a big game for the Mids, scoring six goals. Reed MacKenzie (Livingston, Mont.) added two goals and seven others netted one goal each. Sophomore Steve Craney (La Crescenta, Calif.) earned his first career start, stopping 12 shots and allowing just six goals.
In the second game against Slippery Rock, Navy again started slow, leading just 4-2 after one quarter. However, a 9-0 run over the second and third quarters put the game out of reach as the Mids won for the fourth time in a row, 17-5. Jordan Flacco (Calabasas, Calif.), Ratcliffe, Andrew Plumb (Altadena, Calif.), Aaron Recko (San Antonio, Texas) and Matt Wood (Evergreen Park, Ill.) tallied two goals each and seven others scored once. Ratcliffe now has 159 career goals to move to 10th on the Navy career goals scored list. Freshman Andrew Neuwirth (Ross, Calif.) performed well in his first career start in goal, stopping 12 shots and grabbing four steals.
"We had a shaky first quarter in both games, but really got things going after that," said Schofield. "We were able to empty the bench and play a lot of people. Both Craney and Neuwirth played well in goal today. We have a big tournament next weekend at the SoCal Invite, so we are going to try and get better this weekend."
The Mids will take place in the very-competitive SoCal Invite next weekend, battling Pepperdine in the tournament opener on Saturday morning.
# GO NAVY #
