ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Goalie Caden Capobianco (So., Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach) made a record 23 saves as No. 20-ranked/host/No. 2 seed the United States Naval Academy exploited a 4-0 scoring run in the second quarter to outlast and overcome George Washington University, 11-7, in the semifinals of the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship hosted by the Midshipmen at Lejeune Hall.
Capobianco’s performance establishes a new Navy individual game record with 23 saves, topping the previous record of 20, originally set by Kevin Crisson against George Washington University on September 26, 1998, and matched by George Naughton versus St. Francis College Brooklyn in 2007 during an 11-7 victory in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) title game at Harvard University. The sophomore fell one stop shy of tying the team record of 24 saves set against Slippery Rock University in 1998.
The win places Navy (16-12, 9-3 MAWPC-East) into a 1:30 p.m. title tilt versus No. 18/No. 1 seed Fordham University on Sunday, November 21, back at Lejeune. The Rams punched their title game ticket by topping No. 5 seed Wagner College by an 11-10 count in overtime. It will mark the third meeting in 2021 between the two longtime nemeses as the Midshipmen dropped a 17-10 game in the Bronx on September 26 before suffering a 10-9 setback in Annapolis on November 6.
A nine-time league champion (1986 vs. Brown University, 1987 vs. Brown, 1988 vs. University of Arkansas-Little Rock, 1990 vs. Brown, 2000 vs. St. Francis College Brooklyn, 2003 vs. Princeton University, 2006 vs. Princeton University, 2007 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn, 2008 vs. Princeton) and eight-time runner-up (1984 vs. Brown, 1991 vs. Slippery Rock University, 1994 vs. University of Massachusetts, 2002 vs. Queens College, 2005 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn, 2009 vs. Princeton, 2010 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn, 2011 vs. Princeton) under former head coach/Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame member, the 2020/21 inductee – former athlete/current Navy head coach Luis Nicolao – will seek to claim his fifth league crown in men’s water polo after winning the 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2015 titles as the head coach at Princeton.
Overall, Nicolao was 4-5 in CWPA Championship title games at Princeton with wins in 2004, 2009 (vs. Navy), 2011 (vs. Navy) and 2015 and losses in 2003 (vs. Navy), 2006 (vs. Navy), 2008 (vs. Navy), 2013 and 2014 before returning to his alma mater in January 2018. Further, he went 0-1 in Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship title games while in the Garden State as the Tigers fell in the 2017 affair during his final game as Princeton head coach to Harvard University.
The defeat drops No. 3 seed George Washington (11-14, 7-5 MAWPC-East) into the Third Place game where the Colonials will do battle with No. 5 seed Wagner at Noon on November 21. The 2017 and 2018 MAWPC Champion with runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2019, GW split with Wagner during the regular season with a 12-11 win in Staten Island, N.Y., on October 9 followed by a 12-5 loss on November 7 at the Smith Center in Washington, D.C.
The third meeting of the year between Navy and GW as the Midshipmen claimed a 12-9 overtime win In Annapolis on November 4 prior to the Colonials notching an 11-10 victory on November 13 in Washington, D.C., the rubber match between the two MAWPC-East stalwarts was tight in the early going.
George Washington controlled the pace and style of the contest’s first quarter as Viktor Jovanovic (So., Calgary, Canada/E.P. Scarlett) broke the ice 19 seconds in by slipping a shot past Capobianco with 7:41 on the clock to acquire an early lead. The margin held up for 68 seconds until Will Clark (Jr., Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach) thrilled the Navy faithful by putting away a shot at 6:33 to knot the score at one-all.
The Colonials reacquired the lead prior to the end of the first quarter as Andrija Sekulic (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia/Savremena Gimnazija) broke free to finish a man-up chance with two minutes on the clock to make it 2-1 in favor of GW.
George Washington’s narrow one-goal lead held up until the 5:01 mark of the second quarter when Clark connected on a power-play opportunity to pull the Mids even at two-all.
Clark’s goal proved to be the turning point in the contest as Jordan Corpuz (So., Glendale, Calif./Hoover) and Clark swished shots at 4:10 and 2:00, respectively, prior to Isaac Salinas (Sr., Spring City, Pa./Malvern Prep) getting in on the act with 40 seconds left to allow Navy to enter halftime with a 5-2 lead.
The margin continued to grow in the dawning moments of the second half/third quarter as Salinas and Jake Altmayer (Jr., Pasadena, Calif./Loyola) lobbed in markers at 6:01 and 4:42, respectively, to expand the gap between the Midshipmen and Colonials to 7-2.
DJ Davis (Sr., Alamo, Calif./San Ramon Valley) brought an end to Navy’s offensive onslaught by cashing in on a man-up opportunity at 4:10 to cut GW’s deficit to 7-3.
Salinas wrapped up a hat-trick with 1:26 on the clock by arching in a power-play bid, but Kalan Smith (So., Manhattan Beach, Calif./El Segundo) launched in a rebuttal with 21 seconds left to return the game to a four-score affair at 8-4.
Navy had the last word in the third quarter, however, as Michael Heller (Fr., Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) beat the buzzer by a second to augment the lead to 9-4 with eight minutes of regulation left to play.
Nick Schroeder (Sr., Orinda, Calif./Campolindo) started the fourth quarter with a man-up score at 5:51 to close the gap to 9-5, but Clark came up giant by pumping in his game-high fourth tally at 5:24 to regain a five-goal lead.
The teams traded goals the rest of the way as Sekulic tacked on man-up (1:36) and natural (58 seconds) chips to sandwich a marker by Altmayer (1:15) to establish the 11-7 final score.
For Navy, Clark led the way with four goals, while Salinas (three) and Altmayer (two) also netted multi-score games. Heller and Corpuz both racked up single snicks to round out the Midshipmen’s offensive stars.
Sekulic keyed GW with three goals, while Jovanovic, Smith, Davis and Schroeder each found the back of the cage once in support of a 10 save effort by netminder Luca Castrorina (So., Catania, Sicily/Liceo Galileo Galilei).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| George Washington University |
2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | – | 7 |
| No. 20 United States Naval Academy | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | 11 |
| Navy Goals: | Will Clark (4); Isaac Salinas (3); Jake Altmayer (2); Michael Heller; Jordan Corpuz; | |||||
| GW Goals: | Andrija Sekulic (3); Viktor Jovanovic; Kalan Smith; DJ Davis; Nick Schroeder | |||||
| Saves: | Navy – Caden Capobianco (23) ; GW – Luca Castorina (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Navy – 10 ; GW – 2 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Navy – 2-for-2 ; GW – – 4-for-10 | |||||
| Sprints: | Navy – 2-for-4 (2nd, 3rd) ; GW – 2-for-4 (1st, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | YC – Navy (Head coach Luis Nicolao, 2:07 left in 3rd Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Alex Stankevitch; Igor Mernenko | |||||
