ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy water polo team (16-9, 6-4) dropped an 18-10 decision to No. 2 Fordham (23-0, 9-0) on Saturday evening at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis. The loss was the first of the season at home for the Midshipmen.
"Today was a tough one," head coach
Luis Nicolao said after the game. "They are undefeated and the No. 2 team in the country for a reason. That being said, I thought we fought hard and played well at times. Regardless of the score, I thought the guys continued to battle all the way to the end. We have two more games this weekend so we have to put this one behind us and look forward to Wagner and Johns Hopkins tomorrow."
Seven different Midshipmen found the back of the net on the night.
Luka Sekulic led the charge with three goals, while
Quinn Bartlett added a pair of scores.
Sam Collingwood,
Maddox Garrahy,
Matt Mai-Prasarnsuk,
Henry Williams, and
Billy Zech each added goals.
Kiefer Black, who was held scoreless in the game, led the team with three assists, while
Rory Begin,
Michael Heller,
Austin Kahn, Mai-Prasarnsuk, Sekulic, and Williams also contributed helpers in the game.
On defense,
Ryan Munch worked a complete game at goal. The freshman finished the game with 11 saves, while adding a steal. Kahn, Mai-Prasarnsuk, and Zech led the team with two takeaways apiece, while
Holden Seybold and Williams joined Munch with one steal each.
Navy was the first team to score as Mai-Prasarnsuk broke the scoreless tie with the first goal of the game. Fordham responded with three straight goals to take a 3-1 advantage before Bartlett ended the run with a goal. The Rams closed out the first quarter of play with a pair of goals to take a 5-2 advantage into the second period.
In the second quarter, Fordham increased its lead to 7-2 with a pair of goals. Navy was able to cut the margin to three with back-to-back scores by Williams and Collingwood. However, the Rams countered with a 4-0 run to push the advantage to 11-4. Zech ended the run with a goal just before half to head into overtime trailing 11-5.
The Midshipmen opened the third quarter with a Garrahy goal, but four straight goals by the Rams extended the margin to 15-6. Sekulic stopped the run, scoring a goal with a fraction of a second remaining in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Mids won the opening sprint and proceeded to work the ball around until Sekulic buried it in the back of the net. The Rams countered with two goals, but Navy continued to battle trading goals with the No. 2 team in the country to the very end. Sekulic notched his third goal of the game, while Bartlett found the back of the net for the second time. Despite the hard fought game, the Mids dropped an 18-10 decision to the Rams.
Navy continues the weekend with a pair of games on Sunday. The Midshipmen start the day with a home game against Wagner at 10:00 a.m. in Lejeune Hall before concluding the day in Baltimore with a 3:00 p.m. match up against Johns Hopkins.
