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Navy Announces Class of 2014 Recruits
ANNAPOLIS, Md. --
Navy water polo coaches Mike Schofield and
Mladen Stanicic announce their 2010 recruiting
class, which features 10 players from four states and one
international country. The freshmen reported for plebe summer and
the Naval Academy's Induction Day on June 30.
After seeing its three-year run as Collegiate Water Polo
Association (CWPA) Eastern champions end a year ago, Schofield
believes the group can help Navy return to the top in the fall of
2010. Five players come from talent-rich California, while four
players arrive from emerging water polo states Maryland and
Pennsylvania. In addition, one player, Giorgi Tsurtsumia, hails
from the Republic of Georgia as an international student.
"It's a smaller group than we are accustomed to having, but we
look forward to integrating these guys into what we feel is a
pretty good nucleus returning," said Schofield, who owns a 553-216
record entering his 26th year at Navy. "We are interested to get
them in the mix and see what they can do."
Navy returns several key players from last year's team, but
Schofield figures there are a few players in the class that will
contribute immediately.
"We have a pretty diverse group of guys coming from all over
America," said Schofield. "We don't care where they are from as
long as they can play."
2010 Navy Water Polo Recruiting Class
- Eugene Chang (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Wilson/Hill School)
- Daniel Fallon (Torrance, Calif./Redondo Union)
- Jared Griffin (Arnold, Md./Severna Park)
- Wes Hansen (Erie, Pa./McDowell/Hill School)
- Andrew Lacosse (Owings, Md./Northern)
- Sean Mcdonald (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn)
- Thomas Schofer (Coronado, Calif./Coronado)
- Taylor Setness (Stockton, Calif./St. Mary's)
- Scott Snowden (Altadena, Calif./Pasadena)
- Giorgi Tsurtsumia (Tbilisi, Rep. of Georgia/International Student)
In addition, Navy has announced its
2010 fall schedule, which once again, features some of the top
teams in the country. Navy begins the season on September 4-5, by
hosting the Navy Open. The next weekend, Navy travels to the
Bucknell Univeristy Invitational, where it will face Queens College
(N.Y.), St. Francis College (N.Y.), Diablo Valley College, Brown
University and Pennsylvania State University-Behrend College.
Navy will then head west the next weekend for the NorCal
Tournament in Berkeley, Calif. The tournament will likely feature
the strongest field of the season. Last year's tournament had 14 of
the top 16 teams in the country competing.
Navy will host rivals Bucknell and Princeton University on
September 25, for its first CWPA Southern Division home games of
the year. Navy's final home games will come on October 30, when it
hosts George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University in
a pair of league games.
Navy will begin postseason play by hosting the CWPA Southern
Division Championship on November 5-7, at Scott Natatorium in
Annapolis. Navy has won 12 of the 17 Southern Division
championships the league has contested.
The CWPA Eastern Championship will be held at Bucknell in
Lewisburg, Pa., on November 19-21, while the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship will be held at the
University of California in Berkeley, Calif., on December 4-5.
Navy went 22-9 a year ago and reached the finals of the CWPA
Eastern Championship. Schofield returns eight letterwinners and
four starters from last year's squad.
Release courtesy Navy Athletic Communications
