Men's Water Polo | 11/5/2017 10:55:00 PM
ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst men's water polo team placed second at the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) West-Region Championships at the Prep-Villa Events Center this past weekend.
The Lakers won its first two matches on Saturday, taking down Monmouth College in the quarterfinals and Salem International in the semifinals before falling short against Gannon in the championship game Sunday.
With the top-two finish, the Lakers qualify for their second-consecutive MAWPC Championship hosted by Navy in Annapolis, Md. Nov. 11-13.
Recaps to all three Laker contests are listed below:
Mercyhurst 19, Monmouth 5
The Lakers took care of business in their quarterfinal matchup with a sound 14-point win over Monmouth.
Mercyhurst won by a large margin much in part to its stellar first quarter, where it outscored Monmouth 9-2.
Alex Cappuccio scored all three of his goals in the period, while
Matt Bachler pitched in two more scores.
The Lakers had an 11-point run between the first and second periods and held a 15-3 lead at halftime.
Mercyhurst excelled offensively with a .679 shooting percentage as a team (19-for-28). They also played stout defensively, allowing just a .167 shooting percentage (5-for-30) to Monmouth.
Bachler led the Lakers with five points on three goals and two assists while Cappuccio added an assists to his three first-quarter goals for a four-point total.
Ryan Mercando put together a solid overall effort with a goal, two assists, and three steals.
Mercyhurst 17, Salem International 16 (OT)
The Lakers won a thrilling three-overtime affair over Salem in the semifinal round to secure a spot in the championship game and a bid to the MAWPC tournament.
Mercyhurst trailed by as much as three in the first three quarters and did not take the lead until
Philip Jenny's goal with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter. Salem responded with two-straight goals to regain the lead before
Daniel Alvarez's clutch game-tying goal with seven seconds remaining to force overtime at 14-14.
Salem led 15-14 after the first three-minute overtime period but Mercyhurst fought back in the second overtime with two scores and both teams were tied at 16 entering a sudden death OT period.
Andrew Too-A-Foo made two saves in the period to quell the Salem offense and allowed Alvarez to score another clutch goal, this time the game-winner, with 1:56 remaining in the frame.
Mercyhurst took advantage of its power-play chances, converting on 8-of-16 man-advantages. Conversely, Salem only had five power plays and scored just twice.
Matt Bachler had five goals on eight shots and three assists to lead all scorers. Alvarez scored four total goals on a team-high ten shots. He also had two assists.
Gannon 15, Mercyhurst 10
The Lakers tournament run fell short in the championship game as they lost to the top-seed Gannon Golden Knights by five.
Mercyhurst endured a tough second period after entering it tied at three. Gannon leapt ahead with a 6-2 run to lead 9-5 at halftime, a lead they held until the final whistle.
After finding success on the power play a game before, the Lakers struggled to convert on man-advantages in the title game with a 4-for-15 conversion rate. Gannon scored on six of its eight power plays.
Mercyhurst's team shooting percentage was .278 (10-for-36) while Gannon had a .484 mark (15-for-31).
Four Lakers –
Philip Jenny,
Connor Schmitz,
Matt Bachler, and
Otis Tyson – tied for the team lead with two goals each. Jenny also pitched in an assist for a three-point effort.
All-Tournament Team
Four Lakers were named to the MAWPC West-Region Tournament Team.
Andrew Too-A-Foo,
Daniel Alvarez, and
Connor Schmitz hauled in first team honors while
Matt Bachler was a second-team selection.
Mercyhurst head coach
Curtis Robinette was named coach of the tournament.
The full list of award winners is listed below:
MVP: Zarko Sadikovic (Gannon University)
Rookie of the Tournament: Daniel Domotor (La Salle University)
Coach of the Tournament: Curtis Robinette (Mercyhurst University)
First Team
Andrew Too-A-Foo (Goalie) - Mercyhurst University
Daniel Alvarez - Mercyhurst University
Connor Schmitz - Mercyhurst University
Zarko Sadikovic - Gannon University
Nick Williams - Gannon University
Daniel Domotor - La Salle University
Djordje Stavrevski - Salem International University
Second Team
Brett Rehrer (Goalie) - Gannon University
Dylan Pinckert - Connecticut College
Stephan Cress - Connecticut College
Jeff Brady - La Salle University
Joseph Mahan - McKendree University
Matt Bachler - Mercyhurst University
Milos Popovic - Salem International University
