PRINCETON, N.J. – The Navy water polo team (4-3) split a pair of games at the 2019 Princeton Invitational on Saturday morning at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J. The Midshipmen remained undefeated all-time against Iona, picking up a 15-5 victory to improve to 50-0 against the Gaels. In the second half of the doubleheader, Navy battled, but ultimately fell, 15-11, to No. 19 Brown.
"We played well today," head coach
Luis Nicolao said of his team. "We were able to come out quickly against Iona and come away with a win. Against Brown, we battled hard. We had some opportunities that we were not able to capitalize on. We are still young and we are working on getting better. I am extremely proud of how we played today and looking forward to two more good games tomorrow."
Navy closes out competition in the Princeton Invite with No. 12 Harvard (8:00 a.m.) and Santa Clara (11:45 a.m.) on Sunday.
Game 1 Recap: Navy 15, Iona 5
Navy improved to 50-0 all-time against Iona, posting a 15-5 victory in the first game of the Princeton Invitational.
Trevor Clark (San Marcos, Calif.),
Bobby Lee (Santa Ana, Calif.),
Merle Richman (La Jolla, Calif.),
Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.), and
Kevin Volkov (Freehold, N.J.) each netted two goals apiece.
Graham Lindner (Bel Air, Md.) and
Ronan Williams (Severna Park, Md.) paced the team with two assists each.
Williams worked nearly a complete game at goalkeeper for the Midshipmen. The senior captain recorded seven saves, while surrendering just five goals. He gave way to
Max Sandberg (Newport Beach, Calif.) who finished with no goals allowed and one stop. Williams was second on the team with two steals, behind
William Lowdon's (Hillsborough, Calif.) three takeaways.
In the first quarter, Iona scored first, but Lee scored the equalizer to knot the game at 1-1 early.
Jack Weggeland (Riverside, Calif.) gave Navy the lead, which it would not relinquish. Salinas chipped in a goal and Richman pushed the advantage to 5-1 with back-to-back scores. The Gaels closed out the quarter with a goal to cut the margin to three, but the Mids won the second quarter, 3-1. Lee and Clark found the back of the cage to extend the advantage to 7-2. Following an Iona goal, Salinas closed the half with his second score of the day to send Navy into halftime up 8-3.
In the second half, the Gaels were the first to score, netting a pair of goals around a
Jake Altmayer (Pasadena, Calif.) score. Leading 9-5, Navy finished off the third quarter with goals from Volkov (2) and Clark. In the fourth quarter, the defense kept the Gaels out of the net and the offense tallied three more scores from
Cole Jacobs (Naperville, Ill.),
Zach Luci (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), and Lowdon to provide the final score of 15-5.
Game 2 Recap: No. 19 Brown 15, Navy 11
Game two of the day saw Navy and Brown battle back and forth before the Bears pulled ahead late to secure a 15-11 victory.
Offensively, Salinas led the team with his fourth hat trick of the season. He was joined by
Peter Hillen (Orinda, Calif.), Lee, and Luci who each netted two goals apiece. Lee, Luci, and Richman paced the squad with two assists each.
Defensively, Williams was tagged with the loss at goal. The senior kept the Midshipmen in the game, but surrendered 15 goals in the game, while making five saves. Jacobs led the squad with a pair of steals against the Bears, while Salinas and
Andrew Shashin (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) paced the team with two ejections drawn apiece.
The two teams played even in the first quarter. Salinas and Lee scored to put Navy up early, but Brown responded to knot the game at 2-2 through one quarter of play. In the second quarter, the Midshipmen scored back-to-back goals by Salinas and Shashin to take a two-goal advantage but goals by the Bears tied the game at four. Brown took the lead at 5-4, but Lee answered with the equalizer. The Bears once again took a one-goal advantage, but Luci responded to tie the game at 6-6. The nationally-ranked Bears closed the first half with back-to-back scores to take an 8-6 advantage into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Brown pushed its advantage to 9-6 with a quick goal. Hillen stopped the three-goal rally for Brown and pull Navy to within two. Luci followed with a goal to close the gap to just one goal. Brown found the back of the net to extend its advantage to two, but Hillen buried a ball in the back of the net to cut the margin to just one. The Bears scored to once again go ahead by two, but with one tick remaining on the clock, Weggeland found the back of the net to give Navy a fighting chance, 11-10, through three innings.
Brown pushed its advantage to 13-10 in the fourth quarter before Salinas stopped the Bears' mini run. It would not be enough as the nationally-ranked Bears scored the final two goals of the game to provide the final margin of 15-11.
