ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 20 Navy water polo team (12-5, 3-2 MAWPC) travels to Providence, R.I. for the Brown / Harvard Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19-20 at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center. The Midshipmen will take on Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference newcomer Mercyhurst (4-14, 0-1 MAWPC) on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. before taking on tournament co-host No. 19 Brown (8-5) at 3:00 p.m. later that afternoon. On Sunday, the Mids will face UC Merced (1-12) at 9:00 a.m. before concluding the weekend against No. 13 San Jose State (5-3) at 2:00 p.m. All four games will be broadcast on ESPN+
 
Social Media
For more information on Navy water polo, follow the team on Instagram (@NavyWaterPolo), X / Twitter (@NavyWaterPolo), and Facebook (@NavyWaterPolo).
 
National Ranking
The Midshipmen enter the weekend ranked 20th with Saturday's opponent Brown coming in one spot higher at No. 19 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll. Additionally, San Jose State is currently ranked No. 13 in the poll.
 
Including the preseason poll, Navy has been ranked all seven weeks of the 2024 season. The Mids have risen as high as 17 in the poll, but currently stand at No. 20. The Midshipmen were ranked each week of the year in 2023, starting during the preseason poll, closing out the season at No. 17.
 
Recko Set for Induction into CWPA Hall of Fame
The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) announced that three athletes and a pair of coaches will join the ranks of the CWPA Hall of Fame this Fall during the 2024 Northeast Water Polo Conference and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships. Former Navy water polo standout Aaron Recko ('08) is one of the five honorees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
 
Recko joins fellow athletes Peter Sabbatini (Princeton) and Igor Mladenovic (St. Francis Brooklyn) and former Johns Hopkins head coach Ted Bresnahan and former St. Francis Brooklyn head coach Carl Quigley with the highest honor bestowed by the organization.
 
Recko joins Tom Popp ('89) and Luis Nicolao ('92) among Navy athletes who earned spots in the Hall of Fame, while former Midshipmen head coach Mike Schofield is also a member of the CWPA Hall of Fame.
 
Black Named to Cutino Award Watch List
For the third year, USA Water Polo and The Olympic Club are excited to collaborate with the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) on the Cutino Award Watch List. Navy sophomore Kiefer Black was among the 20 student-athletes selected to the watch list.
 
The Peter J. Cutino Award, named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo. This watch list was created in 2022 in an effort to help promote the college game, awareness of the honor, and the excellent play of athletes around the country.
 
Black becomes the second Midshipmen to be named to the watch list in the award's short tenure. Last season goalkeeper and team captain Caden Capobianco ('24) was named to the Cutino Award Watch List.
 
Erwin Earns Pair of Weekly Honors
Navy water polo freshman Orion Erwin claimed a pair of weekly awards following his career day against No. 20 Bucknell over the weekend. For his efforts, Erwin was named the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Rookie of the Week, while also being tabbed the Naval Academy Athletic Association Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman.
 
Erwin helped No. 20 Navy to a 14-13 victory over No. 20 Bucknell on Sunday at Kinney Natatorium in Lewisburg, Pa. The freshman tied a career high with five points, registering a new career best with five goals scored.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the weekend 12-5 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference following a 14-13 victory over No. 20 Bucknell on Sunday at Kinney Natatorium in Lewisburg, Pa.
 
Kiefer Black leads the team with a balanced attack, entering the weekend with 99 points on 52 goals and 47 assists.
 
The sophomore is one-point shy of registering his second consecutive 100-point season, joining Luis Nicolao (118 point in 1990; 114 in 1991) and Doug Munz (113 points in 1993; 184 points in 1994) as the only players in program history with multiple 100-point seasons. Last season, Black finished with 125 points, which ranked third in Navy's single-season records.
 
For his career, the sophomore is currently 19th in program history with 224 total points on 120 goals and 104 assists. He is four points back of Lawrence Kough ('86), who finished his career with 228 points, for 18th; five points back of Kevin Popp ('98) for 17th; seven points shy of tying Brian Wineke ('94) for 16th with 231 points; and nine points behind Carl Dowzicky ('16) and David Silverman ('98) for breaking into the top 15 and tying for 14th with 233 points. Additionally, he is the sixth player in program history with 100 or more helpers.
 
Quinn Bartlett and Michael Heller are tied with 39 points apiece. Bartlett has 23 goals and 16 assists, while Heller is tied for second on the team with 29 goals to go along with 10 helpers. Luka Sekulic (29), Maddox Garrahy (21), and Billy Zech (20) each have over 20 scores on the year, while Holden Seybold (19), Orion Erwin (16), and Henry Williams (14) round out the Mids' double-digit scorers. Austin Kahn is second on the team with 20 assists with Bartlett (16), Rory Begin (12), Erwin (12), Williams (12), and Heller (10) chipping in double-digit helpers.
 
Defensively, Navy primarily used three goalkeepers on the year. Jack Hightower leads the team with 58 saves, while Jack Rodoni has added 49 stops. Ryan Much, who started against No. 20 Bucknell, has notched 38 saves, including 12 against the Bison. Hightower leads the team with 20 steals, while Black, Seybold, and Matt Mai-Prasarnsuk lead all position players with 19, 17, and 17 takeaways, respectively. Bartlett and Erwin follow with 15 each. Garrahy leads the team with 37 ejections drawn with Erwin and Zech following with 28 and 23 kickouts drawn, correspondingly.
 
Scouting the Opponent
Mercyhurst: The Lakers enter the weekend 4-14 overall and 0-10 in the MAWPC. Last weekend, Mercyhurst dropped four league games, falling to Mount St. Mary's (L, 19-10), George Washington (L, 21-11), Johns Hopkins (L, 16-10), and Bucknell (L, 20-9). The Midshipmen posted an 18-7 victory over the Lakers on Sunday, Sept. 29 in the last meeting between the two teams.
 
Brown: The Bears, who are co-hosting the tournament with Harvard, are 8-5 on the season. Brown split a pair of games last weekend, defeating MIT (W, 13-8) before falling to No. 10 Harvard (L, 18-10). The Bears will take on Mount St. Mary's on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. before taking on the Midshipmen.
 
UC Merced: The Bearcats are 1-12 on the season and enter the weekend, dropping their last two contests. UC Merced picked up its first win of the season against Cal Tech (W, 20-10) at the Gary Troyer Tournament, but subsequently dropped games to Occidental (L, 15-8) and No. 8 Cal (L, 25-8). The Bearcats will take on Wagner and the Mount before facing Navy.
 
San Jose State: The Spartans are 5-3 overall. Six of San Jose State's eight opponents have been ranked and the Spartans have notched a trio of wins against ranked foes defeating No. 8 UC Davis (W, 15-9), No. 18 Santa Clara (W, 11-10), and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (W, 16-13). Most recently, San Jose State dropped a 14-6 decision to No. 4 Pacific. The Spartans will play Bucknell, No. 11 Harvard, and No. 19 Brown before taking on Navy to conclude the tournament.
 
Milestone Man
Head coach Luis Nicolao entered the 2024 season with 492 career wins as a men's head water polo coach, including 90 victories at Navy.
 
With Navy's win against Concordia, Nicolao recorded his 500th victory as a men's head coach, becoming the eighth coach to reach that mark, joining Ted Newland, former Navy head coach Mike Schofield, Denny Harper, Jovan Vavic, Terry Schroeder, Dante Dettamanti, and Pete Cutino with 500 or more wins.
 
Two games later, Nicolao reached another milestone, recording his 100th victory as the Navy head coach. He is officially the first coach in NCAA water polo history to lead multiple men's programs to 100 wins.
 
For his career, Nicolao has 938 career wins between men's and women's programs (102 – Navy men; 402 – Princeton men; 434 – Princeton women) and is 62 victories away from the 1,000-win mark.
 
Up Next
Following the Brown / Harvard Invitational, Navy is set for a trio of Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference games. The Mids travel to Arlington, Va. to take on George Washington on Friday, Oct. 25, before hosting Mount St. Mary's Saturday, Oct. 26 and Bucknell on Sunday, Oct. 27 at Lejeune Hall. The Midshipmen's home games will be streamed on the Navy Athletics YouTube Channel.