Sept. 14, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 11th-ranked Navy water polo team concluded play in the Princeton Invitational with a split during Sunday's action. The Mids cruised past Iona, 10-5, in the opener, before falling to ninth-ranked UC San Diego, 9-6, in the nightcap. Navy falls to 4-4 overall with the split, going 2-2 during the weekend.
"We have some work to do," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We are just giving up way too many 6-on-5 opportunities. We have the pieces to have a very successful season, but we have just got to get better. We actually didn't play bad today, but we are just giving our foes too many man-up chances. We did a nice job, but when a team has 15 chances, they are going to score on some."
In game one against Iona, the Mids jumped out to an 8-1 halftime lead, allowing Schofield to use the bench liberally in the second half. In all, 36 players saw action for Navy in the contest against Iona.
"We got off a little better start today, and were about to use the bench in the second half," said Schofield. "It was a little more solid effort."
Michael Mulvey led the Mids with five goals, while Chuck Baker scored twice. Marek Malik, Johnny Meiners and Luke Baldwin each scored once. Brett Rajchel stopped five shots in goal, while Chase Hansen made two saves in a reserve role.
In the second game of the day, the Mids fell to UC San Diego, 9-6. The game was a see-saw effort with UC San Diego holding a 6-5 lead after three quarters. The Tritons then outscored the Mids, 3-1, in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.
"It was basically a one-goal game the whole way, and we let it get away from us during the last three minutes," said Schofield. "We gave up a couple of 6-on-5 goals and that was the difference. We played fairly well for a good chunk of the game."
Kevin Bell led Navy with two goals, while Mulvey, Malik, Alex Kofsky and Kyle Wertz had one goal each. Rajchel made eight blocks in goal.
Navy will battle league rivals George Washington and Johns Hopkins on Wednesday in Annapolis. Action begins at 5:00 pm in MacDonough Hall. All Navy water polo games are free of charge.
# GO NAVY #
