Men's Water Polo Lands Trio of All-Conference Honors
11/15/2018 2:43:00 PM | Water Polo
Atakan Destici, Austin Pyrch and Andrew Mavis were recognized Thursday
BRIDGEPORT, Pa.- George Washington men's water polo picked up a trio of All-Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference honors Thursday ahead of the league championship.
Atakan Destici and Austin Pyrch represented the defending MAWPC champion Colonials on the All-Conference First Team, while Andrew Mavis was selected to the All-Conference Second Team.
Destici was honored by the MAWPC for the third straight season on the strength of a GW-high 128 points via 73 goals and 55 assists over 25 games. The junior from Turkey enters the conference championship needing seven points to reach his career high of 135, set in 2017. He's tied for the team lead with 12 field blocks and also ranks second among Colonials with 40 steals.Â
Destici has already cemented himself among the top players in program history, ranking second all-time in assists (177), third in points (390) and seventh in goals (213) in just three seasons.
Pyrch earned his first All-Conference nod in recognition of a spectacular senior season. The goalkeeper from Texas has totaled a career-high 245 saves with a .558 save percentage, plus 21 steals and five assists. He earned Defensive Player of the Week recognition three times this season, including the most recent award after tallying a career-high 17 saves in a Senior Day win over Johns Hopkins last Saturday.
Mavis ranks second on the squad with 69 goals, converting a career-best 55.6 percent of his shot attempts.The New Jersey native also paces the Buff and Blue with 56 ejections drawn. He was honored on the All-MAWPC First Team last fall and tabbed Most Valuable Player of the conference championship before being named an ACWPC Honorable Mention All-American.
The group helped GW (19-6) secure the No. 2 seed for the MAWPC Championship hosted by Fordham. The Colonials kick off their bid for a repeat title on Friday with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 7 McKendree at 6 p.m.
