ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The #19 Navy water polo team (1-4) hits the road for the annual Princeton Invitational this weekend at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J. On Friday, the Midshipmen will take on Wagner (2-2) and LIU (0-3) at 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively, before concluding the tournament on Saturday with #16 Harvard (3-1) at 3:30 p.m.
Social Media
For more information on Navy water polo, follow the team on Instagram (
@NavyWaterPolo), X (
@NavyWaterPolo), and Facebook (
@NavyWaterPolo).
Milestone Watch
Kiefer Black began the 2025 season with 296 points on 162 goals and 134 assists. With 13 points on nine goals and four assists at the Triton Invitational, he became the seventh player in program history with 300 or more career points. The junior currently has 309 points on 171 goals and 138 assists.
Black enters the weekend in sixth place in program history with 309 points and is five points back of Michael Mulvey ('09) who is fifth with 314. Navy head coach
Luis Nicolao ('92) is the program's all-time leader in points with 377.
Additionally, the San Diego native is approaching Navy's all-time top 10 in career goals. With 171 goals entering the weekend, he is 15 goals shy of David Kaye ('86) who stands in 10th-place with 186 goals.
The junior is one-assist back of Tom Popp ('89) for tying the Navy all-time assist record with 139 helpers.
Last season, Black registered his second consecutive 100-point season (125 points in 2023; 171 points in 2024), joining Nicolao (118 point in 1990; 114 points 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.
National Ranking
The Midshipmen enter the weekend ranked 19th in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll, moving up one spot from the initial preseason poll. Last season, the Mids were ranked or receiving votes each week of the year, starting during the preseason poll. This weekend Navy will face another ranked foe in #16 Harvard.
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the weekend 1-4 overall following the Triton Invitational that saw the Midshipmen take on four top-15 opponents, including top-ranked, defending national champion UCLA.
Kiefer Black leads the team with 13 points on a team-high nine goals and four assists. Freshman
James Mulvey joins Black with double-digit points, finishing his inaugural collegiate weekend with 11 points on six goals and a team-best five assists.
Quinn Bartlett,
Luka Sekulic, and
Orion Erwin round out Navy's top five. Bartlett and Sekulic are tied with seven points apiece. Bartlett has four goals and three assists, while Sekulic has three scores and four helpers for his seven points. Erwin is one point back of the duo with six points on four goals and a pair of assists.
Defensively, Navy used three goalkeepers over the first weekend the year.
Ryan Munch leads the team with 30 saves, while
Jack Rodoni and
Jack Hightower follow with nine and five stops, respectively.
Munch leads the team with eight steals with
Aiden Berry next with six takeaways. Black adds five steals followed by Sekulic (4), Bartlett (3), and
Jack Mason (3).
Jack Reif leads the team with nine ejections drawn with
Maddox Garrahy coming in second with seven.
Billy Zech adds six ejections drawn, while Bartlett, Black, and Erwin following with five, four, and four kickouts drawn, correspondingly.
Up Next
Following the Princeton Invitational, the Midshipmen return to Annapolis for the annual Navy Open. The Mids will play six total games during the three-day tournament. Navy begins play against conference foe Mount St. Mary's on Friday, Sept. 12 at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, Sept. 13, the Mids face Princeton (9:20 a.m.), Wheaton College (10:40 a.m.), and MIT (6:00 p.m.) before concluding play against Salem (8:00 a.m.) and Penn State Behrend (9:20 a.m.) on Sunday, Sept. 14.
Navy's games against the Mount, Princeton, and MIT will be live streamed on
YouTube.
