Nov. 12, 2006
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 12th-ranked Navy water polo team put together one of its top performances of the year in defeating 15th-ranked Princeton, 9-6, in the finals of the CWPA Eastern Division Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The win improves Navy's record to 24-5 overall and puts the Mids into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2003 season. It will be Navy's 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm really happy for these guys," said an elated Mike Schofield. "They have worked as hard as any team I have had, right from the start of our trianing period. There is never a guarantee hard work will be paid off, but it is nice when it happens like this."
The Mids enter the NCAA Tournament on a 14-game winning streak, and reach the final four after two years of disappointment. The Mids dropped one-goal matches in two straight seasons to St. Francis to deny Navy a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2005. However, this year's team wouldn't be denied, and Schofield gave credit to the last two teams that suffered the heartbreaks.
"This is also a win for the seniors on last year's team," mentioned Schofield. "They had their hearts broken last year. We share this victory with them.
"It is nice to add another group of names to the list of those who have gone to two Final Fours. Only one other group of four players, the class of 2004, have done that," said Schofield.
The Navy defense struggled in the first half against Princeton, who upset the top seed, St. Francis in Saturday's semifinals, falling behind 5-4 at intermission. However, after some adjustments, the Mids held the Tigers to just one goal in the second half and went on to a 9-6 victory.
Michael Mulvey led the way with three goals for the Mids, while Aaron Recko and Bram Arnold tallied a pair of goals. Andrew Plumb and Eric Gardiner scored one goal each. George Naughton made 11 saves in goal.
Aaron Recko, who was earlier named CWPA Southern Division Player of the Year, was named the CWPA Eastern Division Tournament MVP.
"We received a great game from the whole team," said Schofield. "We trailed 6-5 at halftime, but didn't allow a goal in the second half. We played, really, really good defense.
"We went 14 deep and I think our depth, and our goalkeeping, were the differences in the game," added Schofield. "Our 5-on-6 defense was really strong. We even scored two goals off of our man-down defense, and that was a big key to the game."
The NCAA Tournament will be played on Dec. 2-3 in Los Angeles, Calif. Navy will be the representative from the East Coast, while three schools from California will round out the field. Pairings will be announced at a later date.
# GO NAVY #
