LEWISBURG, Pa. - The fourth-seeded Navy water polo team started play at the CWPA Southern Tournament with a win on Friday over the fifth-seeded Colonials of George Washington, 11-7. After playing a nearly even first half of play, a three-goal advantage for the Mids in the third quarter helped break the game open and lead to the eventual victory.

The senior trio of Carpenter Warren (Baltimore, Md.), Robert Sutherland (Denton, Texas) and goalie Beau Bayless (Carmel, Calif.) highlighted Navy's play on Friday as the pair of field players combined for five goals, while Bayless turned aside 11 George Washington shots on goal.

"We did what we had to do to win," remarked head coach Mladen Stanicic postgame. "George Washington played well and played us tight in the first half. We kept the pressure up and eventually broke open the game in the second half. Our lead helped us to reach a bit deeper into the bench and give some starters a bit of rest. That's always important in a four-game tournament."

The offensive action between the Mids and Colonials was very slow developing as the teams combined for just five total first half goals. In the first quarter, George Washington took a brief 1-0 lead before Sutherland tied the game at the 4:00 mark. Over five minutes passed before Navy took at 2-1 lead at 6:39 of the second quarter on a Taylor Peterson (Jr., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) marker. A Steven Emde (Sr., Ballwin, Mo.) goal two minutes later at 4:15 helped the Mids expand its lead to two. A Colonial goal with 34 seconds before half tightened the contest to its final one-goal margin.

In the second half, Navy found its groove offensively with five of the first six goals in the third quarter to break open the game. Five separate Mids found the back of the net as Sutherland, Warren, Thomas Allen (Sr., Fresno, Calif.), Shepherd Warren (So., Baltimore, Md.) and Jared Castillo (So., League City, Texas) all scored. With the score 8-3, another late Colonial goal with under a minute to play cut into the Mids' lead.

With the game at a four-goal margin, the two teams played an even fourth quarter as Navy clinched the victory. Carpenter Warren scored twice in the final period, while J.B. Lee (So., Newport Coast, Calif.) tallied one goal.

Victorious 11-7, Navy will now close out Pool D first round play tomorrow morning with an 11:30 a.m. matchup versus ninth-seeded Monmouth College. Should the Mids defeat the Scots, a showdown with top-seeded Princeton awaits at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday. The Tigers, who won Pool A on Friday, have defeated the Mids twice in past two Saturdays so revenge will be on the minds of the Mids should they meet up again in the semifinals.