Oct. 6, 2010
BALTIMORE, Md. and WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The 19th-ranked Navy water polo team pieced together two strong efforts on Wednesday night to defeat Johns Hopkins and George Washington in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The Mids improved to 16-5 overall and 3-1 in the CWPA Southern Division standings.
Navy topped Johns Hopkins, 14-13, before heading down I-95 South to defeat George Washington, 11-6.
"It sure beats the alternative, and this is a tough trip to win two games in two different locations," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We did some things better today, but we still have a lot of room for improvement. The good news about today is that we hustled, we defended and we gave great effort. Our decision-making needs to get better, but we took a step forward tonight.
"I thought Jordan Carter had a fantastic day today," added Schofield. "He defended very well in front of the goal and led the team from the front."
In the day's first game against Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, the Mids rallied twice in the fourth quarter for a 14-13 CWPA Southern Division victory. The Mids led 8-7 at the halftime break and 11-10 after three quarters, before the Blue Jays took leads of 12-11 and 13-12 late in the stanza. The Midshipmen tied the game at 13 with 2:42 left on a Jordan Carter tally. With about 30 seconds left, Navy had possession of the ball in the middle of the pool when JHU forced a loose ball and a subsequent scramble. Conor Handley, who was held scoreless, made a great hustle play, tapping the ball to Luke Baldwin, who lifted a high-arcing shot over the Blue Jays' goalie with 21 seconds left and 14-13 victory.
"First off, I want to tip my hat to Johns Hopkins and head coach Ted Bresnahan. Every time we come up here, we are in for a dogfight. They played their tails off today and he has a very impressive team," said Schofield. "I thought we gave a great team effort against Hopkins. A lot of players made a lot of good plays and that is something we have been looking for. Anthony Gutierrez, Luke Baldwin, Jordan Carter and Paul Pedrotty all had great games for us. It was an encouraging sign and I hope it can continue."
Baldwin led Navy with five goals and three assists, including the game-winning tally with 21 seconds left. Carter and Pedrotty had three goals each. Kyle Wertz, who was seeing his first action of the season, tallied a pair of goals and Tommy Schofer netted one goal. Gutierrez had 14 saves in goal with five steals.
Navy then controlled the game from the outset in the 11-6 victory over George Washington. Navy led 2-1 after one quarter, 6-3 at halftime, 8-4 after three quarters before settling in for the five-goal victory.
Jordan Carter led Navy with four goals, while Kyle Wertz and Darren McKay had three each. Conor Handley tallied one goal for Navy. Anthony Gutierrez recorded 11 saves in goal.
Navy is off this weekend before traveling to face Princeton and Bucnknell next Saturday, Oct. 16, in a travel schedule similar to today.
# GO NAVY #
