SPRINGFIELD, Va. – The Navy water polo team (14-9, 6-3) battled hard, but ultimately fell to George Washington (18-7, 7-2) in a Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference East game on Sunday afternoon at the St. James Sports Complex in Springfield, Va.
"Today was a battle," head coach
Luis Nicolao said after the game. "Both teams fought hard. George Washington is a really good team. We were up early, but they continued to fight and were able to tie the game and force overtime. George Washington had a ton of momentum in the second half and overtime. Our guys continued to fight hard and never gave up. As a coach, that is all you can ask. You just have to learn from this, improve, and move on to the next game."
Offensively, Navy had nine players score goals in the game with
Jake Altmayer (Pasadena, Calif.) leading the charge with three goals in the game. It was the freshman's second hat trick and first since opening day of the season.
Trevor Clark (San Marcos, Calif.),
Bobby Lee (Santa Ana, Calif.), and
Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.) each added a pair of goals apiece in the contest.
Defensively,
Max Sandberg (Newport Beach, Calif.) finished the game with a career high 17 saves in the contest, while surrendering 17 goals. He added a pair of steals.
Cole Jacobs (Naperville, Ill.) led the way with four steals, while Salinas chipped in three.
In the first quarter, Navy was the first team to score, as Altmayer put the Midshipmen up 1-0 early. George Washington responded with a goal to knot the game at one, but T. Clark answered with a backhanded goal to put the Mids up one. Following a Colonial goal, Navy used a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 advantage.
Andrew Shashin (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) started the run with a goal from a Navy set piece.
Merle Richman (La Jolla, Calif.) converted a five-meter opportunity and Lee scored off of a counter following a Sandberg stop.
Altmayer and
Jesse Hainze (Bellevue, Wash.) followed with back-to-back goals to start the second quarter. George Washington responded with a pair of goals, but
Kevin Volkov (Freehold, N.J.) stopped the mini-run by the Colonials with a goal. GW scored a goal, but Salinas netted his first goal to send the game into halftime in front, 9-5.
In the third quarter, it was almost all George Washington, as the Colonials outscored the Midshipmen, 6-2, to tie the game at 11-11. GW closed the gap to 9-7 with back-to-back goals.
Will Clark (Laguna Beach, Calif.) scored to push the advantage back to three, but George Washington answered. Lee fired a cannon of a shot past the goalie to extend the edge to 11-8, but three consecutive goals by the Colonials tied the game through three quarters.
The fourth quarter saw Salinas and T. Clark open play with back-to-back goals. George Washington closed out regulation with a pair of goals to send the game into overtime, knotted 13-13.
In overtime, George Washington scored four goals to go ahead 17-13. Altmayer closed out the scoring with this third goal of the game for the hat trick.
The Mids will close out the regular season with three games, including a pair of home contests. Navy is slated to play Wagner on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 11:00 a.m. before hosting Fordham later that day at 5:00 p.m. at Scott Natatorium. The Midshipmen head to Lewisburg, Pa. to close out the weekend and regular season with a single game at Bucknell on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 11:00 a.m. at Kinney Natatorium.
