PRINCETON, N.J. — The United States Naval Academy water polo team improved to 6-1 on the 2026 season by splitting a pair of games at the Princeton Invitational in DeNunzio Pool. The Midshipmen went toe-to-toe with host/No. 12-ranked Princeton before getting edged by one goal, 16-15. In the afternoon game, the Mids came out strong and never looked back to post a 22-8 victory over Long Island University.
“We played extremely well today,” said Navy head coach and former Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao. “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 University 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 started the day with a solid performance against 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 quarter, Princeton pushed its advantage to 8-4, scoring four of the first five goals of the frame. 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 via 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.
The game marked a meeting of past Navy players and Princeton coaches as Nicolao – who played at Navy and coached at Princeton prior to taking over the Midshipmen program – fell to fellow former Navy athlete/former Princeton assistant coach/current Princeton women’s head coach/current Princeton interim men’s coach Derek Ellingson in a battle of the interconnected programs.
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 eight minutes 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 at 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 halftime.
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 quarter with Navy ahead 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 for a 22-8 final margin.
Information courtesy United States Naval Academy Athletics Communications
