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No. 13 Navy to Face Gauntlet of Princeton, Bucknell, Air Force and George Washington this Weekend
ANNAPOLIS, Md. --
The 13th-ranked Navy water polo team begins its stretch run this
weekend, with three Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern
Division-East Region contests and a match-up against service
academy rival Air Force, beginning on Saturday. The Mids enter the
contest with an 11-8 overall record and are 1-2 in the Southern
Division.
Navy will take on 15th-ranked Air Force on Saturday at 12:30 pm,
18th-ranked Bucknell at 7:30 pm on Saturday, 17th-ranked Princeton
at 11:30 am on Sunday and will close out the weekend on Sunday at
4:00 pm against George Washington. All games will be played at
Scott Natatorium in MacDonough Hall and admission is free of
charge.
"It's obviously rivalry weekend times four. We are going to start
tomorrow against Air Force and take one game at a time and see how
we make out," said Navy head coach Mike
Schofield.
"We should be and need to be
focused and ready to play in our home pool, and I am looking
forward to watching us play. Air Force has its best team in quite
some time and will come in with a lot of confidence and vigor.
Bucknell and Princeton have beaten us already, and George
Washington is a solid team. I don't need to say much more. The team
needs to be ready to play."
Navy is coming off a successful showing at last weekend's
highly-competitive UC-Irvine Invitational. The Mids finished in
10th place in the 16-team tournament, defeating 12th-ranked
UC-Davis and Redlands by a combined score of 26-13, and falling in
hotly-contested battles with eighth-ranked Long Beach State and
ninth-ranked UC Irvine. The Mids actually led Long Beach State late
in the second overtime, before the 49ers rallied to win in sudden
death.
"I considered last weekend a success, but we are still nowhere
near reaching our full potential," said Schofield. "We need to
start turning it on. We are getting to the tail end of the season
and we obviously want to be starting to play our best now."
Leading the Navy offense is a pair of sophomores in Stevie
Ray and Kyle Wertz. Ray leads the
Midshipmen with 40 points, 29 goals and is third with 11 assists.
Wertz is second on the team with 24 goals, 12 assists and 36
points, and he surpassed 100 career points in last weekend's UCI
Invitational. Luke Baldwin (18-15-33) and
Johnny Meiners (23-8-31) have also surpassed 30
points, while Kevin Bell has 23 points (17 g, 6
a).
Brett Rajchel has made 119 saves in goal and has
378 career saves, ranking seventh on the career saves list.
In addition, Sunday's contests mark the final home games for a
group of 11 seniors. The class has been the largest class in
Schofield's 25 years in charge, and he has been impressed with
their perserverance and commitment.
"This is the largest senior class we have ever had, and that
speaks volumes about their commitment. Not all of them are playing
heavy minutes, but they have been there for four years every day,
working hard," said Schofield. "Dominic Valentini,
Scott Simeral, Paul Pedrotty,
Joe Moffitt, student coach Justin
Stevens and Ian Hunter (who is out this
year due to hip surgery), could have had a much easier schedule
during their afternoons, but felt stongly enough about this team to
keep plugging away. It has never been a problem in terms of team
chemistry. I am very proud of this group, and it should be a source
of great pride, especially for them and their parents."
Release courtesy Navy Athletic Communications
