MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Navy water polo team (8-8, 3-2 MAWPC) swept a pair of games at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Crossover on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. The Midshipmen opened up the competition with a 15-12 overtime victory over Gannon (2-8, 1-4) before rolling to a 17-3 win over Mercyhurst (2-12, 0-5).
"It was good to get a pair of wins today," head coach
Luis Nicolao said at the end of the day. "We didn't play as well as I thought we could, especially in game one, but we found a way to win. In game two, we were able to spread the ball around and get a lot of players into the game. A lot of different players were able to make some plays and help power us to an impressive win. These wins are great, but we have two more games tomorrow so we have to be ready to play."
Defensively, Navy used three goalies in the doubleheader.
Caden Capobianco (Laguna Beach, Calif.) worked a complete game against Gannon, finishing with six saves in the game. In the nightcap,
Jack Hightower (San Diego, Calif.) and
Owen Gurich (Long Beach, Calif.) combined for the victory. Hightower, making his first collegiate start, recorded eight saves in the game, while Gurich added four stops.
Offensively, sixteen (16) different Midshipmen scored goals on the day, including nine that tallied multiple scores.
Michael Heller (Menlo Park, Calif.) led the way with seven goals, including a six-goal performance against Gannon.
Jake Altmayer (Pasadena, Calif.) and
Travis Berzins (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) added three scores apiece, and
Tiernan Brunner (Timonium, Md.),
Hayden Kahn (San Clemente, Calif.),
John Nelligan (Wayne, Pa.),
Erik Nordquist (San Diego, Calif.),
Connor Simpson (San Rafael, Calif.), and
Danny Taylor (Riverside, Conn.) each notched a pair of scores.
Nathan Duchez (San Jose, Calif.),
Jacques Dutton (Yorba Linda, Calif.),
Peter Hillen (Orinda, Calif.),
Chris Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.),
Liam McInerney (Annapolis, Md.),
Sean O'Boyle (Steilacoom, Wash.), and
Holden Seybold (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) rounded out the scoring for the Midshipmen.
Navy returns to action on Sunday, as the Midshipmen take on McKendree (11:40 a.m.) and Salem (3:40 p.m.) in the conclusion of the CWPA Crossover weekend.
Game 1 Recap: Navy 15, Gannon 12 (overtime)
Navy opened the two-game set with a 15-12 victory over Gannon.
The Mids opened up the game with a goal by Duchez to take an early 1-0 lead. The Golden Knights used a 3-0 run to grab a 3-1 advantage through one quarter.
In the second quarter, Heller ended the run with a goal and Seybold knotted the score at three. After Gannon regained the lead, Hillen tied the score once again. The Golden Knights regained the advantage, but Altmayer sent the game into intermission locked at 5-5.
The second half started with three straight scores by the designated home team, putting Navy behind 8-5. The Midshipmen responded with three consecutive scores of their own to tie the score at 8-8 through three quarters. Heller scored a pair of goals in the 3-0 run, while Kahn ended the run to knot the score.
Heller started the fourth quarter with a goal to give Navy its first lead of the afternoon. Gannon responded with a goal, but Altmayer quickly gave back the advantage to the Mids. Following a Golden Knights goal, the Mids used back-to-back scores by Berzins and Altmayer to take a 12-10 lead. Gannon refused to go away, tying the game at 12 and forcing overtime.
In overtime, Navy closed out the game with a 3-0 run with a pair of goals by Heller and one final score by Kahn to provide the final margin of 15-12.
Game 2 Recap: Navy 17, Mercyhurst 3
In the second game of the day, the Midshipmen cruised to a 17-3 victory. Eleven different Mids scored goals in the game with six notching multiple scores.
Navy jumped out to an early lead, rattling off the first six goals of the game. Berzins and Duchez started the scoring with back-to-back scores in the first minute of the contest. Kim added a score before Berzins notched his second of the quarter. Simpson rounded out the first quarter scoring with consecutive goals to end the period with the Mids in front, 6-0.
Mercyhurst was able to score a goal to start the second quarter, but Navy responded with another 6-0 run. McInerney pushed the advantage back to six goals. Brunner and Taylor followed with their first goals of the game. Nelligan scored two of the next three goals, while Dutton added a score.
The third quarter saw the Lakers notch a second goal, but three scores by the Midshipmen pushed the advantage to 15-2. O'Boyle began the third quarter run with Brunner and Nordquist firing the ball past the keeper. In the fourth quarter, Nordquist and Taylor added goals and a Mercyhurst goal provided the final score of 17-3.
