Sept. 21, 2008
STOCKTON, Calif. -- The 13th-ranked Navy water polo team won two games on Sunday en route to a 13th-place finish at the NorCal Tournament over the weekend. The Mids defeated 20th-ranked Air Force, 11-4, before edging 11th-ranked UC Davis, 6-4, in the 13th-place game. The wins move Navy's record to 9-6 overall.
In the victory over Air Force, the Mids outscored the Falcons, 9-2, in the middle two quarters in cruising to the seven-goal victory.
"It was a nice bounceback win for us after yesterday," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "It was a really solid effort and one we can build off. We cleaned up some defensive issues and put away our opportunities on offense better. The seniors did a good job getting us ready for a rivalry game."
Michael Mulvey scored three goals to lead Navy, while Luke Baldwin, Kevin Bell and Alex Kofsky tallied a pair of goals each. Andrew Neuwirth and Johnny Meiners each tallied a goal. Brett Rajchel stopped 11 shots in goal, while Chase Hansen came on in a reserve role to stop one shot.
In the second game of the day, the Mids defeated No. 11 UC Davis for the second time in three days with a 6-4 victory. Navy outscored the Aggies, 4-2, in the middle two quarters to pull away for the victory.
"It was about the same as Friday's game against them in that we tried to give it away in the second half," said Schofield. "We tried to let them back into the game, but they were unable to take advantage of our charity."
Mulvey led the Mids with a season-high five goals, while Marek Malik scored once. Rajchel made six saves.
It marks the second straight season that Navy finished 13th at the extremely-competitive NorCal Tournament. Following last year's finish, the Mids ran off a 23-2 stretch to its third-place finish at the NCAA Tournament.
"The potential is definitely there, but we need to start cutting down on our mistakes," said Schofield. "There is no excuse for some of the things we are doing."
Navy will host Bucknell and Princeton next Saturday (Sept. 27) at noon and 8:00 pm, respectively, in MacDonough Hall. It will be the final home games of the year.
# GO NAVY #
