EMMITSBURG, Md. – The No. 19 Navy water polo team (14-12, 9-3 MAWPC) closed out the regular season with a 13-10 victory against Mount St. Mary's (7-20, 1-10) at the ARCC Swimming Pool in Emmitsburg, Md.
"It was great to end the regular season with a win," head coach
Luis Nicolao said. "We are able to go into the tournament with a little bit of momentum. We are hosting the tournament, which is great. We hope to have a ton of our parents and fans at the game to cheer us on and make it a real home pool advantage."
Offensively, Navy jumped out to an early lead and was able to cruise to the victory. Nine different Midshipmen scored on the day, including three who netted multiple goals.
Jack Weggeland (Riverside, Calif.) paced the offensive attack, finishing with a team-high three goals for the hat trick, while adding an assist for a team-high four points.
Ivan Pang (El Monte, Calif.) and
Isaac Salinas (Spring City, Pa.) chipped in two goals apiece, while
Jake Altmayer (Pasadena, Calif.) registered two points on a goal and an assist.
Payton Comstock (Clarendon Hills, Ill.),
Michael Heller (Menlo Park, Calif.),
Hayden Kahn (San Clemente, Calif.),
Chris Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.), and
John Nelligan (Wayne, Pa.) rounded out the scoring for the Mids, while
Travis Berzins (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and
Graham Lindner (Bel Air, Md.) added helpers in the game.
Defensively,
Max Sandberg (Newport Beach, Calif.) worked a complete game at goal for Navy. The senior keeper finished the game with seven saves and three steals in the victory. Salinas and Berzins joined Sandberg with multiple steals, finishing the game with four and two, respectively.
Navy opened the game strong, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through one quarter of play. Pang put the Midshipmen on the scoreboard and Altmayer followed with a goal on the following possession. Kahn buried the ball in the back of the goal, and Heller closed out the run with s score.
In the second quarter, the Mount ended the Mids' run with a goal, but Salinas responded to keep the lead at four, 5-1. Mount St. Mary's trimmed the margin to three, but three straight goals to close out the half put Navy up 8-2 at intermission. Weggeland began the run with his first goal of the game, while Salinas and Pang each added their second scores of the game.
The Mount began the third quarter with a goal, but Kim answered. Back-to-back scores by the Mountaineers trimmed the margin to 9-5, but Weggeland, Comstock, and Nelligan rattled off three consecutive goals to push the advantage to 12-5. Mount St. Mary's closed out the quarter with a goal to cut the margin to six.
The home team attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Mids, 4-1, in the quarter. The Midshipmen were able to use clock and received a timely goal from Weggeland – his third of the game – to secure the victory.
Navy, who earned the No. 2 seed, will host the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Tournament next weekend. The Midshipmen's opponents and game times are yet to be determined. Each game will be live streamed through CWPATV ($).
