Pictured Above: Senior Driver Matthew Miller
Princeton, NJ – The Wagner men's water polo team is set to compete in four road games this weekend, including its third tournament of the 2019 season and the beginning of Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) play.
The Seahawks will compete in a doubleheader on Saturday, taking on No. 14 Princeton and Navy in Princeton, NJ before heading to Lewisburg, PA to participate in the Bucknell Invitational on Sunday. In Lewisburg, they will be going up against Fordham and the hosts, No. 14 Bucknell. Game times for Saturday are set for 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., while Sunday will see Wagner playing at 9:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.
The Green & White went 1-2 last weekend, competing in the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, NJ. Wagner will look to keep improving this weekend, led by captains,
Lachlan Trabinger and
Matthew Miller, who have both had strong starts to the season. In seven games, Trabigner has tallied five goals and a team-leading 14 assists, while Miller has notched a team-leading 21 goals and four assists.
ABOUT NO. 14 PRINCETON:
Opening the season in the Navy Invitational and hosting the Princeton Invitational, the Tigers have gotten off to a 3-5 start with every loss coming at the hands of a top 15 ranked team. In the Navy Invitational they fell to No. 2 UCLA and No. 2 Stanford by a combined score of 35-13. Last weekend in Princeton, they fell to No. 9 UC San Diego, No. 14 Bucknell, and No. 15 George Washington by a combined score of 35-30, showing vast offensive improvements. The Tigers have earned victories over La Salle, Austin College, and Johns Hopkins through the second weekend, winning by an average of nine goals and only allowing an average of just over six goals per game. The scouting report would say that offense is key when going up against the Tigers, they have not won a game when conceding 10 goals or more. Coming into the season, Princeton is looking to repeat as Northeast Water Polo Conference champions, which they took home last season for the fifth time in program history. They returned five of their top scorers from last season, including Alec Mendelsohn, a junior utility who led the returners with 41 goals, 23 assists, and 22 steals last season.
ABOUT NAVY:
Wagner will begin conference play when it takes on the 5-4 Navy Midshipmen. The Middies are coming into this weekend with a very similar record as Princeton, having lost every game they've played against ranked opponents and winning every game against non-ranked teams. Their losses have come to No. 2 Stanford, No. 2 UCLA, No. 19 Brown, and No. 12 Harvard, conceding an average of just under 20 goals per game. Through all competition, the Midshipmen have allowed an average of just over 13.6 goals per game, while scoring an average of 13.1 goals per game. They have proven to be able to score goals, but their biggest question marks arise on the defensive side of the pool. Coming into the season, Navy was selected to finish third in the MAWPC-East Region, while a trio of players were named to the "Players to Watch List," junior center Bobby Lee, sophomore attacker Isaac Salinas, and junior utility Andrew Shashin. Last season, Salinas earned MAWPC Rookie of the Year honors, recording a team-high 77 points, while first-year head coach Luis Nicolao earned Coach of the Year honors.
ABOUT FORDHAM:
The Rams will be donning a record of 5-2 going into the Bucknell Invitational after grabbing a pair of victories over Santa Clara and No. 17 St. Francis Brooklyn last weekend in the Princeton Invitational. They are led by senior driver Jake Miller-Tolt, who scored 13 goals and added 11 assists over the weekend in Princeton and earned MAWPC Co-Player of the Week honors. Miller-Tolt was also named a MAWPC Player to Watch prior to the season beginning, joining him on that list was sophomore goalie Bailey O'Mara. In all, the Rams have returned 11 athletes from last season when they posted an even 16-16 record under head coach Bill Harris who is entering his sixteenth season at Fordham. The Seahawks will be looking to build on two defeats they handed to Fordham last season, including a 10-6 win in the third-place match in the MAWPC Championships.
ABOUT NO. 13 BUCKNELL:
The Bison are coming into the weekend with a 6-1 record on the season. They have four victories over ranked opponents, including No. 16 California-Baptist, No. 20 Brown, No. 12 Princeton, as well as a victory over currently ranked St. Francis Brooklyn. Their only loss came against UC San Diego by a score of 14-7 last Saturday. Bucknell will be looking to keep building on a strong start to the season, utilizing a big group of returners. The Bison returned 347 of their 418 goals from last season, when the posted a very impressive 22-7 record and took second-place in the MAWPC Championship, dropping the title match by one goal to George Washington. Bucknell are led by senior attacker Rade Joksimovic, a 2018 Second-Team All American, who has moved into first-place all-time in steals at Bucknell this season.
Follow us: #CHAOSonthehill
Wagner Athletics
Water Polo:
