Washington & Jefferson College-vs.-Austin College Scoresheet
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. — Michael Colmenares (Fr., Richmond, Texas/Foster), Max Wade (Fr., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) and Brett Skinner (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) all netted hat-tricks with three goals as Austin College of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) overpowered host Washington & Jefferson College, 16-7, in the Fifth Place game of the 2019 Division III Eastern Championship tournament held at Chartiers Valley High School.
The Kangaroos (1-17) claim their first win of the season and avenge a 23-20 defeat at Washington & Jefferson on Friday, October 25. Further, it marks the highest finish in two Division III Eastern Championship appearances for Austin as the team placed sixth in a seven-team field last year at Johns Hopkins University after upending Monmouth College by a 16-15 count.
Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region member W&J (3-20) takes Sixth Place in 2019’s six-team field as Monmouth was unable to attend the event due to a medical travel restriction.
In the second meeting in less than three days between the two programs, Austin gained an early 2-0 advantage via strikes by Cade Griffith (Fr., Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Colmenares at the 6:06 and 5:38 marks of the first quarter, respectively. The Kangaroos never relinquished the lead as W&J moved within one at 2-1 before the close of the frame courtesy a five-meter penalty shot by Will Kitsch (So., Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) with 2:13 on the clock.
Austin doubled its offensive output in the dawning moments of the second quarter as Wade (6:48) and Andrew Pope (So., Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound) (4:37) lined in man-up chances to push their squad out to a 4-1 margin. W&J attempted to rally back as Elijah Muzzi (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou) and Andrew Edwards (Fr., Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) stroked in natural goals at 2:46 and 2:11, respectively, to close within 4-3. However, Colmenares beat the buzzer with a rising shot at the one second mark to provide the ‘Roos a 5-3 lead at halftime.
Griffth (7:35, man-up) and Skinner (6:49, even-strength) engorged the spread to 7-3 to begin the second half prior to Ryan Bannon (Fr., Bloomfield, Colo./Bloomfield) answering for W&J with a man-up strike at 6:25 to keep the Presidents within three at 7-4.
The lead swayed from four to three over the remainder of the frame as Austin pushed ahead 8-4 and 9-5 before the Presidents inched back within three at 9-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Over the final eight minutes of regulation, the Kangaroos jumped all over Washington & Jefferson by rattling off three tallies to move ahead 12-6 before the Presidents responded to narrow their deficit to five at 12-7 with 3:35 on the clock. However, Austin enlarged its margin of victory over the final three minutes by pumping in an additional four markers to earn a 16-7 win.
For W&J, Zishuo Ma (Fr, Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos), Muzzi, Ian Geister (Sr., Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), Bannon, Edwards, Alex Lee (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif./Eagle Rock) and Kitsch each found the back of the cage once with shots. Nick Spehar (Sr., Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) made 11 saves in suffering the loss.
Austin received two goals from both Griffith and Pope, while Kyle Brown (So., Lake Jackson, Texas/Braoswood), Connor Watson (So., League City, Texas/Clear Creek) and Will Koelzer (So., Richmond, Texas/Foster) each chipped in solo tallies in support of a 13 save performance by goalie Zachary Griffith (Fr., Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Austin College (1-17) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | – | 16 |
| Washington & Jefferson College (3-20) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 7 |
| W&J Goals: | Zishuo Ma; Elijah Muzzi; Ian Geister; Ryan Bannon; Andrew Edwards; Alex Lee; Will Kitsch | |||||
| Austin Goals: | Michael Colmenares (3); Max Wade (3); Brett Skinner (3); Cade Griffith (2); Andrew Pope (2); Kyle Brown; Connor Watson; Will Koelzer | |||||
| Saves: | W&J – Nick Spehar (11) ; Austin – Zachary Griffith (13) | |||||
| Exclusions: | W&J – 14 ; Austin – 14 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | W&J – 3-for-14 ; Austin – 6-for-14 | |||||
| Sprints: | W&J – 0-for-4 ; Austin – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Steve Rotsart; Andy Mattson | |||||
Washington & Jefferson College’s Nick Spehar (#1) tries for a save against Austin College
Austin College’s Zachary Griffith (#1B)
Austin College’s Michael Colmenares (#19)
