Oct. 29, 2010
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The No. 15-ranked Navy water polo team looks to close out its regular season on a high note on Saturday as it hosts George Washington and Johns Hopkins at Macdonough Hall's Scott Natatorium. The Mids will face George Washington at 11:00 am and Johns Hopkins at 2:00 pm.
The Mids own a 18-5 record and a 5-1 mark in the CWPA Southern Division. The Mids own the tiebreaker over Princeton (also at 5-1) thanks to goal differential and two wins this weekend would likely give Navy the top seed for next weekend's CWPA Southern Division Tournament in Annapolis.
Navy also needs just one win to continue its remarkable streak of winning 19 games in all 29 years since the program's start in 1982.
"It's a big weekend for us and we control our own destiny essentially. We need to put our best foot forward twice tomorrow and not give back what we are in position to get, and that being the top seed in the CWPA Southern Tournament,"said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "I am sure George Washington and Johns Hopkins would like nothing better to come in here and take one from us and I am sure Princeton wouldn't mind that either. We want to do a good job playing our style and doing things the right way and not help the other team out in any way."
Navy hasn't played for two weeks, last coming off a pair of victories over Bucknell and Princeton. The Mids have played just four games in the month of October after playing 19 in the month of September.
"We have gotten a lot of excellent training in, and we had better be excited to play. I hope we can come out ready to go and take care of business," said Schofield. "Those teams are strong teams and it will be a good challenge for us. Johns Hopkins has been playing very well and has been right there with every team in the league. It will be a challenging weekend for us."
Offensively, Navy is led by three players who have scored over 30 points each. Luke Baldwin (Sr. / La Grange Park, Ill.) paces Navy with 59 points (37 g, 22 a), while Conor Handley (Jr. / Naperville, Ill.) has 45 points (31 g, 14 a) and Stevie Ray (Jr. / Baytown, Texas) has 31 points (26 g, 5 a). Navy has also received a big boost from Kyle Wertz (Jr. / San Diego, Calif.), who has scored 14 points (11 g, 3 a) in just four games during the month of October.
Defensively, Navy's Anthony Gutierrez (So. / Long Beach, Calif.)has recorded 137 saves against 125 goals for a save percentage of .523.
Navy leads the all-time series with George Washington, 40-2, having won 30 straight meetings dating back to 1998. Against Johns Hopkins, Navy leads the series, 40-1, having won nine straight contests against the Blue Jays.
# GO NAVY #
