Men's Water Polo | 10/23/2016 8:08:00 PM

ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst men's water polo won the Collegiate Water Polo Association Division II Championship as the host team at the Prep-Villa Events Center on Sunday, Oct. 23. The Lakers were 1-1 in two games against Salem International and Gannon, but due to all three teams going 1-1 in the round-robin style tournament, a goal-differential tiebreaker worked in Mercyhurst's favor to capture the championship.

Mercyhurst 10, Salem International 5

Mercyhurst beat Salem for the second time this season by the score of 10-5. The Lakers were able to take advantage shot opportunities much more effectively than the Tigers, finishing with a .313 shooting percentage compared to Salem's .147.

On Mercyhurst's first possession of the first quarter, the Lakers cashed in on a power play with a goal by Noah Ratliff to take the 1-0 lead. Salem bounced back to tie it at one midway through the period and even took a 2-1 lead with 2:37 remaining. On the next possession, Mercyhurst's Jack Howe tied the score with an assist given to Philip Jenny. Then with 52 seconds remaining, the Lakers retook the lead on a Connor Schmitz goal and went into the second quarter up 3-2.

Salem had a penalty shot chance early in the second period to tie the game but Andrew Too-A-Foo stopped it to hold the lead. Matt Bachler and Ryan Witoslawski scored back-to-back goals to put Mercyhurst ahead 5-2. After a Salem goal that made it 5-3, Schmitz scored his second of the game to put the Lakers up 6-3 entering half time.

In the second half, Mercyhurst locked it down defensively and only allowed Salem to score two third-quarter goals. The Tigers pulled it within two with 4:56 left in the third, but it was all Lakers from that point on. Joey Ryan, Howe, and Witoslawski all scored in the fourth quarter to pull away and lead the Lakers to the 10-5 win.

Gannon 13, Mercyhurst 11 (OT)

In their second game of the day, the Lakers lost their second overtime game in as many weekends 13-11 to Gannon. The Lakers are 1-1 in their two games this season against their Erie rivals.

 Mercyhurst and Gannon exchanged two goals each in the first quarter, with Laker goals scored by Jenny and Schmitz. In the second quarter, both teams continued to go back-and-forth scoring goals. Gannon scored twice, but Schmitz scored twice for Mercyhurst and Bachler added one more to give the Lakers a 5-4 lead after two.

The Lakers built a 7-4 lead in the third quarter after two more goals from Ratliff and Witoslawski, but Gannon fought back with three straight goals to tie the game at seven entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, Howe and Schmitz netted goals and Gannon scored three to hold a 10-9 lead late in the quarter. Witoslawski then scored with 55 seconds remaining to tie the game. After Joey Ryan was given an exclusion on the final possession, the Lakers kept the Golden Knights from scoring on their final possession to force overtime.

In overtime, Andrew Too-A-Foo made two big stops early to keep things knotted up. Witoslawski scored with two minutes remaining to put the Lakers ahead 11-10, but Gannon bounced back to tie the score once again. After flipping sides in the overtime period, Gannon sealed the deal with two goals and held the Lakers scoreless to win the game 13-11.

The Result

Earlier in the day, Salem defeated Gannon 15-12, meaning all three teams finished with 1-1 records for the tournament. To determine the winner, a goal-differential tiebreaker was used. Mercyhurst had the best differential at +3 to take the title. The head-to-head aspect of the competition was used to determine second and third place, with Salem taking second after defeating Gannon head-to-head.

The Lakers (9-9) will travel to New York City and Fordham University next weekend to take on La Salle, Fordham, and Iona on Oct. 28^th and 29^th.