ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 20 Navy water polo team (22-9) posted a 10-9 victory over George Washington (16-9) in the semifinals of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Tournament on Saturday evening in Lejeune Hall. With the win, the Midshipmen will play in the conference championship game for the second consecutive season and the third time under head coach
Luis Nicolao (2021, '23, '24).
"Wow, what a game," Nicolao said of the win. "That was a great game between two teams that did not want to lose. Thankfully, we were able to come away with a victory. Our guys played extremely hard and I could not be prouder of them. GW is a good team and they made us earn every goal tonight. Munch played an outstanding game at goal for us tonight. As a team, our goal every year is to win a championship and tomorrow we have an opportunity to do that."
Navy will take on top seeded and No. 3 Fordham Rams (30-0) at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the championship game, which will be streamed live on
Game On Live Studio.
Defensively, freshman
Ryan Munch worked a complete game in the net, notching his second victory of the MAWPC Tournament. The rookie finished with 11 saves, while holding the potent George Washington offense to single-digit goals. Additionally, Munch added one of Navy's nine steals on the night.
Michael Heller led the way with two takeaways, while
Rory Begin,
Maddox Garrahy,
Austin Kahn,
Luka Sekulic,
Holden Seybold, and
Henry Williams also registered steals.
Black once again paced the offensive attack, leading the way with three goals on the night. Additionally, he added an assist for a team-high four points. Seybold and
Billy Zech each notched a pair of scores with
Quinn Bartlett,
Matt Mai-Prasarnsuk, and Sekulic rounding out the scoring. Bartlett, Heller, and Kahn led the team with two assists apiece, while Begin and Black also had helpers.
Zech started the game with a goal to give Navy a quick 1-0 advantage. George Washington took the lead with a pair of goals, including one on a penalty shot to go ahead 2-1. Seybold took a pass from Begin and buried it in the back of the net to knot the game at two through one quarter of play.
The second quarter continued to be a defensive battle with only three goals being scored between the two teams. Bartlett broke the 2-2 tie and gave the Midshipmen the lead once again. The Revolutionaries once again tied the game, but Mai-Prasarnsuk was able to break the deadlock and send the game into halftime with the Mids in front, 4-3.
George Washington scored a pair of goals around a Black score to lock the game at 5-5 in the third quarter. From there, the Midshipmen used a 3-0 run to close out the period to take an 8-5 advantage into the final quarter of play. Sekulic, Seybold, and Black scored during the run, while Munch continued to record stops in the cage.
In the fourth quarter, GW scored a pair of quick goals to trim the margin to one, 8-7. Zech and Black countered with goals to extend the lead back to three. George Washington continued to apply pressure netting two goals to cut the deficit to one, 10-9. The Midshipmen were able to keep the Revolutionaries out of the net for the final 77 seconds and hold on for the one-goal win.
