PRINCETON, N.J. – The Navy water polo team (3-1) began competition in the 2018 Princeton Invitational with an 11-9 victory over fellow service academy Air Force (1-4) on Saturday morning at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J.
 
"Throughout my career, I have had a lot of great memories at this pool," head coach Luis Nicolao said. "To come up here with my alma mater and get a victory against a good Air Force team means a lot. I cannot give enough credit to our players. They fell behind, but they continued to battle, display tenacity and intensity, and come away with a solid win."
 
Bobby Lee (Santa Ana, Calif.), Nate Reiff (Wheeling, Ill.), Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.), and Andrew Shashin (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) paced the offense with two goals apiece. The quartet was joined by Trevor Clark (San Marcos, Calif.), Cole Jacobs (Naperville, Ill.), and Alex Piecuch (Ladera. Ranch, Calif.) who each added a goal. Salinas led the team in points with four, finishing with two assists to go along with his two goals. Jake Haines (Ashburn, Va.)l tied Salinas with a game-high two assists.
 
Ronan Williams (Severna Park, Md.) picked up his third victory of the season at goal. The junior tallied 11 saves, while surrendering nine goals on the day. For Williams, it was his third game this season with double-digit stops. The junior is averaging 13 save per game.
 
Air Force jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before Reiff found the back of the net to cut the lead in half. After a Falcon goal gave the designated visitors a 3-1 edge, Piecuch responded with his first goal of the game to end the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, Air Force scored, but Clark answered on the next offensive set, using his power to rocket the ball past the goalie, trimming the margin to 4-3. The Falcons ended the half with a goal to go into intermission up 5-3.
 
The Falcons opened the scoring in the second half with a quick goal, but Reiff followed with his second goal of the game to pull the Midshipmen to within two. Following an Air Force goal, Shashin scored back-to-back goals to pull to within one. Lee knotted the score at 7-7 with his first goal. However, the Mids went into the final quarter of play, trailing 8-7.
 
The final quarter belonged to the Mids. Jacobs took advantage of a 6-on-5 opportunity, tying the game at 8-8 with just under six minutes remaining in regulation. Navy took its first lead of the day as Salinas came on a counter from the back line to bury the ball in the back of the net to put the Mids up 9-8. Lee followed with his second goal of the game halfway through the final quarter. Salinas put Navy up three, 11-8, with his second goal. Air Force scored with 45 ticks remaining on the clock, but Navy was able to run out the clock and secure the 11-9 victory.
 
The Midshipmen continue the Princeton Invitational with a pair of ranked opponents on Sunday, Sept. 9. Navy squares off against No. 9 Harvard at 10:00 a.m. before concluding the invite against No. 4 Stanford at 1:45 p.m.