ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The United States Naval Academy water polo team returned to Scott Natatorium for the first time since opening weekend, but were unable to secure wins in a pair of games, dropping a 17-12 decision to No. 18-ranked George Washington University prior to being edged by Fordham University via an 8-7 final score.
“Today was a tough day, but there are many positive moments upon which we will continue to build,” head coach Mladen Stanicic said after the games. “We continue to create opportunities, but we were just unable to finish off some plays. The team continued to fight to the end and never gave up. In both games, we were able to tie it several times, but impatience on offense cost us late.”
Offensively, the Midshipmen tallied 19 goals on the day, led by Nik Galvan (Henderson, Nev.) who netted five goals, including a hat trick against Fordham. Gabe Gaspar (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Bobby Lee (Santa Ana, Calif.), Nate Reiff (Wheeling, Ill.) and Kevin Volkov (Freehold, N.J.) each added multiple scores on the day.
In goal, Ronan Williams (Severna Park, Md.) and Francis Kim (Houston, Texas) split time between the pipes. Williams allowed eight goals, while notching five stops in the opener against GW. Kim surrendered 17 goals on the day, why tallying 15 saves in the two games.
In the day’s opener versus the Colonials of George Washington, GW jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but back-to-back goals by Volkov and Lee knotted the game at two. George Washington added two more goals, but Jared Castillo (League City, Texas) trimmed the deficit to just one, 4-3. George Washington closed out the first quarter with a goal to go up 5-3.
In the second quarter, Galvan opened up the scoring quickly with a goal just under 30 seconds into the period. Lee followed with the equalizer at the seven-minute mark of the quarter. Back-to-back goals gave George Washington a 7-5 edge, but Crawford Smith (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) pulled the home team to within one. GW used a pair of goals to go into halftime up 9-6.
The third quarter saw George Washington push their advantage to 14-10. After a GW goal, Taylor Bernhardt (Annapolis, Md.) scored a goal to close the gap. A Volkov goal made the game 11-8 with 5:39 to play in the quarter. The Colonials extended their advantage to 14-8 before back-to-back goals by Gaspar moved Navy to within striking distance.
Volkov led off the fourth quarter with a goal to trim the margin to 14-11, but three consecutive goals by George Washington put the game out of reach. Senior captain Matt Skowronski (Oak Hill, Va.) scored a goal with just over 90 seconds to play to provide the final score of 17-12.
The nightcap saw the Midshipmen battle hard and get edged in the final seconds of play by Fordham.
After falling behind 3-0 early, Reiff put the Mids on the scoreboard. The Rams used a late goal to take a 4-1 advantage after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the Navy defense stood strong and did not allow a goal to score, allowing the offense to mount a comeback. Galvan started the attack with a goal to close the gap to two. Reiff’s second goal of the game closed the deficit to 4-3 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Fordham scored to go back up two, 5-3, but Skowronski pulled Navy back to within one. With just under 90 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Rams scored to take a 6-4 advantage into the final quarter of play.
Gaspar wasted little time in the fourth quarter, pulling Navy to within one just 31 seconds into the four quarter. Galvan followed with the equalizer with just under six minutes to play. Fordam scored, but Galvan answered 25 seconds later to knot the game at 7-7. The scored remained tied until Fordham fired in a goal with 21 ticks on the clock to claim the one-goal victory, 8-7.
Information courtesy United States Naval Academy Athletics Communications
