Men's Water Polo | 11/15/2017 3:00:00 PM

The Mercyhurst men's water polo team travels to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. for the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships Nov. 17-19.
 
The eighth-seeded Lakers qualified for the tournament with an automatic bid after a second-place finish in the MAWPC West Region Championship on Nov 4-5. They take on top-seeded Bucknell in the first round on Friday at 3 p.m. to open tournament action.
 
The Lakers (11-10) are MAWPC Championship finalists for the second time in the tournament's two-year history. Mercyhurst placed 7^th in last season's tournament, defeating Connecticut College 15-11 in the seventh-place game.
 
Mercyhurst's first-round opponent, Bucknell, is the defending MAWPC champions and enters with a 17-11 record. The Bison got the best of the Lakers in their only matchup this season at the Bucknell Invitational in mid-September, winning 16-5.
 
Other first-round matchups include fourth-seed Wagner (12-16) taking on host and fifth-seed Navy (8-15), seventh-seed Gannon (17-6) taking on number-two George Washington (14-11), and third-seed Fordham (17-10) taking on number-six Johns Hopkins (15-14).
 
Some of the Lakers top performers entering the tournament include Daniel Alvarez, Connor Schmitz, Andrew Too-A-Foo, and Matt Bachler. All four players were named to the MAWPC West Region All-Tournament team. In addition, Alvarez, Schmitz, and Too-A-Foo were joined by Philip Jenny on the 2017 MAWPC All-Conference Team.
 
Alvarez enters the tournament as the Lakers leading scorer with 39 goals and 14 assists. Jenny and Bachler are tied for second on the team with 48 points each. Schmitz (39 points) is followed closely by Ryan Witoslawski (38) and Alex Cappuccio (34) in scoring.
 
Too-A-Foo has made 174 saves entering the weekend and has a team-high 79 steals. His save-percentage is .435 and his goals-against average sits at 11.16.
 
The entire MAWPC Championship tournament will be streamed by the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) at the CWPA Portal for a subscription rate. The Lakers will provide live statistics on The Fosh.
 
The entire tournament schedule is listed below:
 
 

Friday, Nov. 17	3:00PM	Game 1 - Bucknell  vs. Mercyhurst
Friday, Nov. 17	4:30PM	Game 2 - Wagner vs. Navy
Friday, Nov. 17	6:00PM	Game 3 - George Washington vs. Gannon
Friday, Nov. 17	7:30PM	Game 4 - Fordham vs. Johns Hopkins
Saturday, Nov. 18	1:30PM	Game 5 - Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 1
Saturday, Nov. 18	3:00PM	Game 6 - Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Saturday, Nov. 18	4:30PM	Game 7 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Saturday Nov. 18	6:00PM	Game 8 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Sunday, Nov. 19	9:00AM	Game 9 - Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5
Sunday, Nov. 19	10:30AM	Game 10 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
Sunday, Nov. 19	12:00PM	Game 11 - Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7 (3rd Place)
Sunday, Nov. 19	1:30PM	Game 12  - Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Championship)