PRINCETON, N.J. – The Navy water polo team (6-1) split a pair of games at the Princeton Invitational on Saturday at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J. The Midshipmen went toe-to-toe with #12 Princeton (5-0) getting edged by one goal, 16-15, by the tournament host. In the afternoon game, the Mids came out strong and never looked back, posting a 22-8 victory over LIU (4-5).
 
"We played extremely well today," head coach Luis Nicolao said. "Princeton is a good team that has been beating teams pretty good early in the season. We basically played even with them. I am proud of the way the team fought all the way to the final whistle. In the second game today, the guys came out and did what they needed to do to put us back in the win column. After a disappointing loss like we had this morning, the guys could've let it get to them this afternoon, but they didn't. They took control early and closed it out strong. We have one more game this weekend against a good Harvard team and we will need to continue to play Navy water polo if we want to have a chance to win."
 
Fifteen different Midshipmen found the back of the net on the day, including eight that scored multiple goals. Quinn Bartlett led all scorers with seven goals on the first day of the tournament. Q. Bartlett had hat tricks in each game, netting three against Princeton and four against LIU. Jack Reif followed with five scores with Maximus Arnold, Declan Bartlett, and Aiden Berry chipping in four scores apiece. James Mulvey, Declan Murphy, and Luka Sekulic scored two goals each with Saul Biddle, Kiefer Black, Connor Cashman, Aiden Day, Tanner Lustig, Colin McPhail, and Jack Pointner finding the back of the net.
 
Black led all scorers finishing with nine total points thanks to a team-best eight assists on the day. D. Bartlett used three helpers to go along with his four goals to match his older brother with seven points. Cashman and Day contributed four and three assists, respectively with McPhail adding a pair. Austin Kahn and Billy Zech joined Arnold, Berry, Mulvey, Pointner, Reif, and Sekulic with helpers on the day.
 
In goal, the Midshipmen used a pair of keepers – Jack Rodoni and Ryan Munch. Rodoni led the duo with 13 saves in two games with four steals, while Munch made seven stops, while adding a takeaway.
 
Navy concludes play in the Princeton Invitational on Sunday morning as the Midshipmen take on #18 Harvard (2-5) at 11:00 a.m. at DeNunzio Pool.
 
Game 1 Recap: #12 Princeton 16, Navy 15
Navy started the day with a solid performance against #12 Princeton. The Midshipmen fell behind 10-6 at halftime, but battled hard to pull to within one, but could not find the equalizer, dropping a 16-15 decision to the home team.
 
The Tigers opened the scoring with a five-meter goal to take an early 1-0 lead. D. Bartlett tied the score with his first goal of the day, but back-to-back goals by Princeton gave the home team the lead. Sekulic pulled the Mids to within one, but the Tigers countered with another penalty shot goal. Murphy closed the gap to one, 4-3, to end the quarter.
 
In the second period, Princeton pushed its advantage to 8-4, scoring four of the first five goals of the quarter. Reif netted the Midshipmen's one goal during the Tigers' run. Q. Bartlett halted the home team's run with a goal, but back-to-back scores by Princeton extended its advantage to 10-5. Q. Bartlett notched his second goal of the quarter to send the game to halftime with Navy down 10-6.
 
Princeton once again scored to start the quarter, but Navy countered with a 3-0 run thanks to goals by Biddle, Reif, and Day. The Tigers used a five-meter to extend the advantage back to three, 12-9, but Mulvey found the back of the net to close the margin to two, 12-10.
 
In the fourth quarter, Mulvey pulled the Mids to within one. Following a Princeton goal, Q. Bartlett pulled the Midshipmen to within one with his third goal of the game. The Tigers scored back-to-back goals, but the youngest Bartlett countered with consecutive scores to close the gap to 15-14. Princeton extended the lead to two, but D. Bartlett once again cut the margin to one with 25 seconds remaining. The Midshipmen were unable to get a takeaway and the Tigers were able to run out the clock to earn the 16-15 win.
 
Game 2 Recap: Navy 22, LIU 8
In the second game of the day, Navy came out strong and never looked back, cruising to a 22-8 victory over LIU.
 
The Midshipmen jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first quarter. Reif started the game with back-to-back goals with Q. Bartlett pushing the lead to three. Black, Sekulic, and Arnold extended the run to take a six-goal lead through one period of play.
 
In the second quarter, Q. Bartlett opened the scoring, pushing the Mids' advantage to seven. LIU scored a goal, but McPhail matched the score to keep the margin seven. The Sharks notched their second score of the game, but Q. Bartlett countered with his second goal of the game to push the lead to 9-2. Following an LIU goal, Arnold slipped one past the goalie to give Navy a 10-3 advantage at the half.
 
Reif extended the lead to eight to start the third quarter. Following a Sharks' goal, the Midshipmen scored four straight goals, including three by Berry to push the lead to eleven, 15-4. Cashman and Berry matched LIU with goals to conclude the third with Navy in front, 17-6.
 
In the fourth quarter, LIU scored a pair of five-meter goals around an Arnold score for the Midshipmen. From there, it was all Navy as Murphy, Pointner, Lustig, and Arnold closed the game out on a 4-0 run to provide the final margin of 22-8.