Sept. 14, 2007

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- No. 4-ranked Stanford outscored 10th-ranked Navy, 5-1, in the fourth quarter to grab a 17-8 decision in water polo action on Friday night. The Mids led early, but Stanford went on a 7-2 run to close out the first half, before putting the game away in the fourth quarter. The Mids saw its five-game win streak end and drop to 6-2 overall.

"The big difference was that Stanford's centers really tore us up inside. We had three guys foul out and just couldn't match up with them inside," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "But on the plus side, we played them a whole lot better than we did last year and we did a very nice job of creating chances for us. We just couldn't put them away. They probably have the best goalie in the country, so we knew it would be tough to score on them, but I thought we put a little offensive pressure on them. It was a decent performance for us."

Navy surged out to a 3-2 lead early in the first quarter and had a chance to take a 4-3 lead on a breakaway that failed. Stanford then led 7-4 after one quarter, 9-5 at halftime and 12-7 after three quarters. The Mids subbed liberally in the fourth quarter in falling, 17-8.

Mike Mulvey led the Mids with three goals, his team-leading 19th of the season. Bram Arnold tallied two goals and Reed MacKenzie, Aaron Recko and Kevin Bell scored once each for the Mids. George Naughton and Steve Craney each played a half in the goal.

Navy will compete in the prestigious NorCal Tournament hosted by the University of California, beginning Saturday at noon (PDT) against fifth-ranked UC Irvine.

# GO NAVY #