Gannon University-vs.-Mount St. Mary’s University Scoresheet (MAWPC-West Championship – Game #6)
ERIE, Pa — Vladimir Mickic (So., Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla) scored six times, including a quartet in the fourth quarter, as No. 2 seed/defending Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Division Champion Gannon University punched its ticket to the 2021 Winter MAWPC-West Championship title game and the Winter 2021 MAWPC Championship courtesy a 16-9 victory over No. 3 seed Mount St. Mary’s University at the David M. Hallman III Aquatics Center.
The win lands the Golden Knights in a 1:30 p.m. title tilt showdown on Sunday, February 28, versus No. 1 seed/MAWPC-West regular season champion McKendree University for the Winter 2021 crown. In addition, by advancing to the title game, Gannon earns a spot in the eight-team MAWPC Championship next weekend at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., with the host/No. 9-nationally ranked Midshipmen, Bucknell University, George Washington University, Fordham University, Iona College, La Salle University and the Bearcats of McKendree.
For history buffs, the Gannon-McKendree title game clash has its share of potential bad blood on both sides.
It marks the second consecutive year the two programs will meet in the title game as the 2017 and 2019 MAWPC-West Champion Golden Knights claimed a 15-14 victory in overtime last year against McKendree. The loss prevented the 2018 MAWPC-West Champion Bearcats from becoming the first program to repeat.
The rivalry between the two programs extended into this year as McKendree earned a shard of revenge by handing Gannon its inaugural MAWPC-West regular season defeat via a 13-11 victory on February 13 at The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The loss terminated a 29-game consecutive conference regular season wins streak for Gannon and marked the Golden Knights’ first-ever regular season defeat in MAWPC-West competition following a 27-0 mark dating back to 2016. Including the prior Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA)-Southern Division-West Region, Gannon was 29-0 entering the game versus league opponents in conference/regular season action dating back to a 12-11 loss at Mercyhurst University on October 9, 2015.
In addition, the loss concluded a nine-game overall MAWPC-West winning streak (including the MAWPC Championship) stretching back to a 12-9 loss to McKendree on November 3, 2018 when the Bearcats clawed past the Golden Knights in the semifinals of the MAWPC-West Championship at the Hallman Aquatics Center on the way to downing Salem University for the program’s inaugural championship.
For Gannon, the road back to the title game and an opportunity to return the favor to McKendree went through the first-year program of Mount St. Mary’s.
The Golden Knights, which upended the Mountaineers in the program’s inaugural varsity game by a 26-5 count on January 23 in Morgantown, W.Va., prior to claiming a 22-10 victory on February 6 in Mount St. Mary’s first-ever home game in Emmitsburg, Md., never trailed in the third meeting of the year between the two programs.
Mickic (6:30), Anthony Squeglia (Sr., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) (5:41) and Dylan Schmitzerle (Fr., Plymouth, Mich./Huron) (3:34) registered back-to-back-to-back checks in the scoring column to open the game and provide the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
Will Twizell (Gr., Adelaide, Australia/Scotch College) put The Mount on the board with 1:10 left in the opening frame, but Robert Bolmanski (Jr., Erie, Pa./McDowell) responded to return the spread to three at 4-1 with 53 ticks until a break.
Jason O’Donnell (Fr., Beaconsfield, Quebec/John Abbott College) struck prior to the close of the first quarter (19 seconds) to again pull Mount St. Mary’s within a pair at 4-2 as the teams traded scoring chances.
The back-and-forth exchange of volleys continued into the second quarter as Mickic (5:25) and Squeglia (4:50) enlarged the lead to four at 6-2 prior to O’Donnell trimming it down to 6-4 by halftime with consecutive goals at 3:31 and 15 seconds.
For Gannon, the give-and-take came to an abrupt end in the third quarter as the Golden Knights went on the offensive to earn a trip to Annapolis – and most importantly a shot at revenge against McKendree.
Lucas Petzold (Sr., Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville), Bolmanski and Mickic ticked off goals at 6:01 (man-up), 5:00 and 4:24, respectively, to turn a two-score affair into a 9-4 lead.
Jason Fitch (Fr., Middle River, Md./Calvert Hall) cauterized the bleeding for the Mountaineers with a response at 4:17, but Mickic struck again at 3:54 to return Gannon’s lead to five at 10-5.
O’Donnell attempted to erase the Mountaineers’ deficit by bombing in strikes at 3:37 and 2:19 to move Mount St. Mary’s back to within three at 10-7.
But Mickic copy-catted the move and sliced in scores at 1:35 and 1:09 before Schmitzerle followed suit with a marker of his own with 36 seconds left in the third quarter to nearly double-up the Mountaineers at 13-7.
Following a tally by O’Donnell with 24 seconds on the third quarter clock to make it a 13-8 contest, Gannon received an insurance goal by Marty Kaverman (So., Erie, Pa./McDowell) with 6:53 left in the fourth quarter.
O’Donnell got the score with one of his own at 6:32, but a natural marker by Mickic (3:50) chased by a man-up heave by Kaverman (1:30) sealed the win and Gannon’s date with McKendree.
For Gannon, Schmitzerle, Kaverman, Bolmanski and Squeglia each accounted for pairs of tallies. Vieira and Petzold tacked on single goals in support of a 12-save performance by goalie Jacob Hollo (So., Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny).
Mount St Mary’s received a game-high seven goals by O’Donnell and single notches by Twizell and Fitch. Netminder Marko Kruska (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia/West Valley College) turned aside 13 Gannon scoring chances in taking the loss.
Similar to the Golden Knights – which will seek to become the first program to repeat as MAWPC-Champion as Mercyhurst (2016), Gannon (2017) and McKendree (2018) failed to go back-to-back – the Mountaineers’ will pursue their own record in the Third Place game at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, February 28, against Mercyhurst.
Guaranteed to record the highest finish by a first-year varsity program at the MAWPC-West Championship as Mount St. Mary’s will eclipse McKendree’s Fifth Place mark in 2017, the Mountaineers can make National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history.
In the annals of the sport, no first-year team which competes in a conference subset of more than five members and without competing on the collegiate club level prior to playing on the varsity level has ever finished third – an opportunity Mount St. Mary’s will have against Mercyhurst.
The Mount and Winter 2021 MAWPC-West Championship host Mercyhurst have one prior meeting during the Winter 2021 season – a 10-7 victory by the Mountaineers at home in the ARCC Swimming Pool on February 6. The win marked the inaugural overall and home “W” in program history.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Mount St. Mary’s University |
2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | – | 9 |
| Gannon University | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | – | 16 |
| Gannon Goals: | Vladimir Mickic (6); Dylan Schmitzerle (2); Marty Kaverman (2); Robert Bolmanski (2); Anthony Squeglia (2); John Vieira; Lucas Petzold | |||||
| Mount St. Mary’s Goals: | Jason O’Donnell (7); Will Twizell; Jason Fitch | |||||
| Saves: | Gannon – Jacob Hollo (12) ; Mount St. Mary’s – Marko Kruska (13) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Gannon – 4 ; Mount St. Mary’s – 8 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Gannon – 2-for-8; Mount St. Mary’s – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | Gannon – 4-for-4 ; Mount St. Mary’s – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Andre St. Omer Roy ; Igor Mernenko | |||||
Gannon University’s Ethan Hamp (#12) rises to shoot as Mount St. Mary’s University goalie Marko Kruska (#1) tries for a block
Mount St. Mary’s University’s Eli Thalos (#8) lines up a shot against Gannon University’s Jacob Hollo (#1) as Anthony Squeglia (#9) pursues
Gannon University’s John Vieira (#1) cross cross-cage against Mount St. Mary’s University goalie Marko Kruska (#1)
Gannon University’s Vladimir Mickic (#6) moves the ball up the pool
