ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 17 Navy water polo team (10-3, 1-0 MAWPC) returns to Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference play with three league games in New York over the weekend. The Midshipmen open the weekend against defending conference champion No. 9 Fordham (9-0, 3-0 MAWPC) on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. in the Bronx before taking on Wagner (6-5, 2-1 MAWPC) on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in Staten Island. The Mids return to the Bronx on Sunday morning for a game against conference newcomer Mercyhurst (4-7, 0-3 MAWPC) at 9:00 a.m. at Fordham.
Navy's game against Fordham will be streamed on
CWPATV.com, while the Mids' game against Wagner will be streamed on
NEC Front Row.
Social Media
For more information on Navy water polo, follow the team on Instagram (
@NavyWaterPolo), X / Twitter (
@NavyWaterPolo), and Facebook (
@NavyWaterPolo).
Milestone Watch
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 936 career wins between men's and women's programs (100 – Navy men; 402 – Princeton men; 434 – Princeton women) and is 64 victories away from the 1,000-win mark.
Anchors Aweigh Podcast
Head coach
Luis Nicolao and sophomore
Kiefer Black joined Pete Medhurst and Bill Wagner on this week's edition of the Anchors Aweigh Podcast.
AUDIO
Water Polo Duo Earns Weekly Conference Honors
The Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference announced its weekly award winners and Navy's
Kiefer Black and
Jack Rodoni were selected for their performances last weekend at the Rare Air Challenge in Colorado Springs, Colo. Black was named Offensive Player of the Week, while Rodoni claimed Defensive Player of the Week.
Black led the Midshipmen over the weekend, finishing the five-games with a team-best 38 points on a team-high 19 goals and 19 assists. The sophomore scored goals in all five games with multiple scores in four contests, posting three hat tricks – three goals against Air Force; three goals against Biola; and 10 goals against Cal Lutheran.
Black broke the Navy single-game record for goals (10), assists (6), and points (16) against Cal Lutheran, topping the previous record of nine goals in a game, originally set by Brian Wineke against Slippery Rock in 1993 and matched by Isaac Salinas at Johns Hopkins in 2018 and Black last season against George Washington. The 16 points topped Wineke's previous mark of 11 against Slippery Rock in 1993, while the six assists were the top performance in program history, topping the previous mark of five by many players. He tied the previous school record with five assists against Air Force and No. 14 Harvard before breaking the record with six helpers against Cal Lutheran.
Rodoni played in three of Navy's five games out in Colorado. The freshman finished the weekend with 15 saves and a pair of steals. He registered a team-high nine saves in Navy's sudden-death overtime victory over rival Air Force, helping the Midshipmen claim the Freedom Vase for the second consecutive season. Rodoni added five stops against No. 14 Harvard in two quarters of action, while recording a save in one quarter played against Cal Lutheran. He added a pair of steals against Air Force.
National Ranking
The Midshipmen enter the weekend ranked 17th in the Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll. It is the third consecutive week for the Mids ranking 17th after starting the year off at No. 18 in the preseason poll. The Midshipmen were ranked each week of the year in 2023, starting during the preseason poll, closing out the season at No. 17. This weekend the Midshipmen will take on No. 9 Fordham, while also taking on Wagner who is receiving votes in the latest poll.
Rare Air Challenge Review
Navy went 4-1 over the weekend at the Rare Air Challenge in Colorado Springs, Colo. with wins against tournament-host Air Force (W, 19-18 in overtime), Concordia (W, 18-7), Biola (W, 15-10), and Cal Lutheran (W, 24-16) with the only blemish coming against No. 14 Harvard (L, 19-14).
Kiefer Black led the team with a balanced attack, finishing with 38 points on 19 goals and 19 assists in the five games.
Quinn Bartlett (11 goals) and
Michael Heller (10) added double-digit goals over the weekend, while
Henry Williams was behind Black with eight helpers.
Defensively, Navy used three goalkeepers in five games.
Jack Hightower finished with a team-high 32 saves, while
Jack Rodoni added five stops. Ryan Much notched four saves in limited action.
Up Next
Following Navy's trip to New York, the Midshipmen will have a week off from competition before Navy returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 13 at Bucknell. The conference game is slated for 11:00 a.m. and will be live streamed on YouTube.
