ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Andrew Mavis (So., Princeton, N.J./The Pennington School) scored twice in the fourth quarter and finished with a hat-trick to net Player of the Game accolades as the George Washington University Colonials used a 3-1 scoring advantage to gain a lead Gannon University was never able to overcome to down the Golden Knights, 10-7, in the opening round of the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship.
The victory advances George Washington (15-11, 7-3 MAWPC-East Region) into a 6:00 p.m. semifinal on Saturday, November 18, against the victor of a first round game pitting No. 20-ranked Fordham University against Division III No. 2 Johns Hopkins University. Gannon (17-7, 7-0 MAWPC-West Region) will meet the loser of the Rams-Blue Jays game at 3:00 p.m. in a consolation game with a spot in the Fifth Place game on the line.
Competing at the United States Naval Academy’s Lejeune Hall, the Colonials fell behind early as Gannon’s Thomas Squeglia (So., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) drove a shot on a man-up chance into the back of the cage 1:59 into the game to stake the Golden Knights to an early 1-0 lead.
However, GW stayed true to the facility’s Marine Corps namesake and marched ahead as Andras Levai (Fr., Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Secondary School) tied the game with a man-up score with 3:22 remaining in the quarter. The Colonials acquired the lead they at 1:20 as Mavis mowed down the tank and swished a natural goal to make it 2-1 prior to Kerim Sismanoglu (Fr., Istanbul, Turkey/Koc School) banging in his own opportunity with 16 seconds to build the margin to 3-1.
Both squads’ defenses tightened in the second quarters as neither team scored again until Gannon’s Ethan Hamp (Fr., Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) hooked in a power-play bid with 16 seconds remaining until halftime to close the gap down to 3-2 after 16 minutes of action.
Gannon’s hero of the half was goalie Brett Rehrer (Jr., Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) who helped stop a five-meter penalty shot with 1:53 to go in allowed the Golden Knights to close within one going into the break.
Jack Donnelly (So., Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) evened the score 1:31 into the second half by bombing a ball into the twine with 6:29 on the clock, but Levai and Pierce Deamer (Sr., South Pasadena, Calif./South Pasadena) lined in even-strength (5:39) and man-up (3:37) chances, respectively, to return the lead to the Colonials for good at 5-3.
Tony Squeglia (Fr., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) chipped the lead back to one at 5-4 and drew a yellow card on GW head coach Barry King with an advantage tally at 2:32, but Zach Slaughter (Jr., Trabuco Canyon, Calif./JSerra Catholic) slammed in a response at 1:48 to return the Colonials’ margin to a pair at 6-4.
The teams exchanged man-up scores over the remainder of the frame as Gilberto Milan (Sr., Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico/Colegio San Jose) and Brett Else (Jr., Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) finished bids for Gannon (1:15) and GW (three seconds), respectively, to set the score at 7-5 after 24 minutes of competition.
Gannon continued to menace the Colonials in the opening moments of the fourth quarter as Milan put away a natural marker 32 seconds (7:28) into the final period of play to shrink George Washington’s lead down to one at 7-6.
However, Mavis nixed the Golden Knights’ comeback bid for good by hurling in heaves at 5:29 and 5:06 to build a game-high three goal lead at 9-6.
Thomas Squeglia attempted one final push for Gannon by firing in a shot with 4:35 remaining to move within 9-7, but Deamer answered at 3:29 with his team’s third man-up goal of the contest for the 10-7 final score.
For GW, Mavis led the way with a hat-trick with Levai and Deamer each contributing pairs. Else, Slaughter and Sismanoglu tacked on solo markers in support of six saves by Vlahotasios in the first half and five by winning goalie Austin Pyrch (Jr., Denton, Texas/Billy Ryan) in the second half. Pyrch picks up the victory due to Gannon tying the game 31 seconds into the second half as GW went ahead to stay with him in cage.
Milan and Thomas Squeglia keyed the Gannon attack with pairs of goals, while Donnelly, Tony Squeglia and Hamp racked up single scores. Rehrer finished with 14 saves in suffering the loss.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Gannon University | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 7 |
| George Washington University | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | – | 10 |
| George Washington Goals: | Andrew Mavis (3); Andra Levai (2); Pierce Deamer (2); Brett Else; Zach Slaughter; Kerim Sismanoglu | |||||
| Gannon Goals: | Gilberto Milan (2); Thomas Squeglia (2); Jack Donnelly; Tony Squeglia; Ethan Hamp | |||||
| Saves: | George Washington – Vaios Vlahotasios (6, 16 minutes), Austin Pyrch (5, 16 minutes) ; Gannon – Brett Rehrer (14) | |||||
| Exclusions: | George Washington – 10 ; Gannon – 9 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | George Washington – 4-for-9; Gannon – 4-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | George Washington – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) ; Gannon – 1-for-4 (3rd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | YC – George Washington (Head coach Barry King, 2:32 left in 3rd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Scott Voltz, Michael Schofield | |||||
Photo 1: George Washington University’s Jack Kerwin (#5) lines up a shot against Gannon University’s Tim Baer (#10); Photo 2: Gannon University’s Jack Donnelly (#3) rises to shoot as George Washington University’s Joe Behun (#10) defends; Photo 3: Gannon University’s Tim Baer (#10) defends George Washington University’s Jack Kerwin (#5); Photo 4: George Washington University’s Austin Pyrch (#1) awaits a shot attempt by Gannon University’s Thomas Squeglia (#13) as Duke Becker (#6) pursues
