La Salle University Scores Knockout Versus George Washington University, 6-4, to Make 2021 Winter Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Title Game

George Washington University-vs.-La Salle University Scoresheet (MAWPC Championship – Game #1)

LEWISBURG, Pa. — Competing in the final season of varsity men’s water polo at La Salle University, the Explorers of La Salle University put up their dukes and outpunched 2017 and 2018 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Champion George Washington University, 6-4, at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium to earn a spot in the Winter 2021 MAWPC Championship title game.

The Explorers (3-4), who entered the championship as the No. 3 seed behind No. 2 seed GW and No. 1 seed Bucknell, will take on the host/No. 9-nationally ranked/defending MAWPC Champion Bison at 3:30 p.m. for the MAWPC Championship and a berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Water Polo Championship on March 18, 20-21, at the University of Southern California.

The game will mark the second meeting of the year for the Explorers and Bison as Bucknell topped La Salle, 9-7, on Saturday, February 27, at the United States Naval Academy’s Scott Natatorium.

Facing George Washington (1-4) for the second time after taking a 9-8 loss in a neutral site at Navy on Sunday, February 28, in both programs’ regular season finale, the Explorers came out swinging to land a 3-0 lead after eight minutes of action.

Cole Strohson (Sr., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar), Tyler Williams (Jr., Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and Ash Lyne (Sr., Plettenberg Bay, South Africa/St John’s College) rattled the Colonials with scoring shots at the 6:53, 4:59 and 3:09 marks of the first quarter to stake La Salle to an early and decisive lead.

George Washington responded as Henry Maas (Jr, San Anselmo, Calif./Marin Academy) converted on a man-up opportunity with 5:43 remaining until halftime as La Salle goalie Veljko Kotarica (Fr., Zrenjanin, Serbia/Electro Technical “Nikkola Tesla”) was whistled for an exclusion/minor act of misconduct at 5:53.

The exclusion marked the second of the first half for Kotarcia who previously went to the corner with 7:04 left in the second quarter.

With its goalie in foul trouble less than midway through the game – as three exclusions would end Kotarica’s day – La Salle turned to its shooters to keep the Colonials at bay.

Leading 3-1 with the clock winding down until the mid-point of the second quarter, the Explorers padded their margin back to three prior to halftime as Karl Miller (Sr., Arlington, Va./Washington Lee) broke free to bury the Explorers’ fourth natural marker at 3:05 to make it 4-1 at the break.

Daniel Domotor (Sr., Budapest, Hungary/Karinthy Frigyes Secondary) put away the eventual game-winning strike with 4:39 to go in the third quarter to push the lead to 5-1.

Ford Bruggen (Fr., Kensington, Md./Landon School) chipped the margin back to three entering the final eight minutes of action by slipping a shot past Kotarica with 1:41 on the clock to inch George Washington back to within three at 5-2.

Following over four minutes of scoreless back-and-forth competition in the fourth quarter, La Salle rebuilt its lead to four goals as Domotor lined in a five-meter penalty shot with 3:41 remaining to provide the Explorers a 6-2 margin.

The Colonials’ attempts to rally back would fall short as Nick Schroeder (Jr., Orinda, Calif./Campolindo) and DJ Davis (Jr., Alamo, Calif./San Ramon Valley) dented the twine with 1:45 and 12 seconds left, respectively, but the combination of the La Salle defense and a lack of time proved too much to overcome.

For George Washington, Davis, Schroeder, Maas and Bruggen each accounted for solo tallies, while goalie Luca Castorina (Fr., Catania, Sicily/Liceo Galileo Galilei) turned aside eight shots in taking the loss.

Domotor led the way for the Explorers with a pair of goals.  Williams, Strohson, Miller and Lyne each chipped in single strikes in support of a six save effort by Kotarica.

Courtesy the win, La Salle will compete in the program’s first-ever league championship title game.  Historically, the Explorers’ have never previously competed for a league championship on either the collegiate club or varsity levels.

Competing in only their third MAWPC Championship after moving over from the West Region prior to the commencement of the 2018 season, La Salle’s title game appearance marks a dramatic improvement for the program since over the past several years under the tutelage of head coach Tom Hyham.

In Hyham’s first season in 2018, the Explorers earned an Eighth Place finish at the MAWPC Championship hosted by Fordham University as La Salle dropped games to Bucknell (21-6 L), Navy (14-10 L) and McKendree University (15-7 L).  In their last MAWPC Championship appearance in 2019, which was also contested at Bucknell’s’ Kinney Natatorium, the Explorers notched their second consecutive Eighth Place finish as the team dropped games to the host Bison (13-10 L),  Wagner College (15-13 L) and Gannon University (15-9 L). During the team’s MAWPC-West inaugural seasons in 2016 and 2017, the Explorers placed Fourth (2017) and Seventh (2016) in tournaments hosted at the David M. Hallman III Aquatics Center in Erie, Pa.

Excluding Princeton University, a Philadelphia area school had never previously made a varsity title game in the sport of water polo – a mark erased by La Salle’s rise to prominence in the MAWPC.

The loss concludes George Washington’s season as the Colonials claim Third Place.

The 2017 and 2018 MAWPC Champion, George Washington’s defeat is unusual as the program appeared in the four prior MAWPC Championship title games.

In 2016, George Washington fell to Bucknell University by an 11-5 final in the title game of the inaugural/2016 MAWPC Championship at the Bison’s Kinney Natatorium.  A year later at the United States Naval Academy, GW got over the hump and claimed the league crown by rolling through the field with victories over Gannon (10-7 W) and Fordham (16-15 W OT) before upending Wagner (8-5 W) for the inaugural crown in school history and the first under then first-year head coach Barry King.

In 2018 at Fordham, the Colonials handled McKendree (16-6 W), Wagner (16-14 W) and finally Bucknell (12-11 OT W) to put another banner in the team’s natatorium.

The Bison and GW met once again last year with the Colonials suffering a 9-4 setback at Kinney Natatorium.

Overall, the Winter 2021 semifinal marked GW’s seventh appearance at a league championship tournament since 2007.

The squad finished in Seventh Place at the 2013 CWPA Championship hosted by Brown University; Eighth Place at the 2014 CWPA Championship hosted by Navy; 9th Place at the 2015 CWPA Championship hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Third Place at the 2007 CWPA Championship hosted by Harvard University; and Eighth Place mark at the 2003 CWPA Championship hosted by Navy.