George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Mercyhurst
Water Polo Opens 2024 Season with Four Games at Navy Invitational
9/5/2024 11:14:00 AM | Water Polo
Revolutionaries will play Mercyhurst, McKendree, No.5 Princeton and Salem
WASHINGTON - The George Washington University men's water polo team kicks off its 2024 campaign this weekend, playing two games on Saturday and two on Sunday in Annapolis, Md. at the Navy Invitational. The Revolutionaries open the season with a Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) bout against Mercyhurst, and follow that up with non-conference games vs. McKendree, No. 5 Princeton and Salem.
SCHEDULE IN ANNAPOLIS
Saturday, Sept. 7 (10:30 a.m.): GW vs. Mercyhurst (MAWPC), Lejeune Hall
Saturday, Sept. 7 (3:30 p.m.): GW vs. McKendree, Scott Natatorium
Sunday, Sept. 8 (10:30 a.m.): GW vs. No. 5 Princeton, Lejeune Hall
Sudany, Sept. 8 (4:45 p.m.): GW vs. Salem, Lejeune Hall
RETURNING FACES
GW returns key pieces from its 2023 roster, including graduate goalkeeper Luca Castorina, senior utility Andrija Sekulic and senior center Leo Lueddemann. Castorina, a 3x All-MAWPC recipient, returns for his fifth season in the Buff & Blue and looks to add to his program-record 1,059 career saves. Sekulic, who was named to the MAWPC All-Tournament Second Team in 2023, returns for his fourth season at GW and will look to lead the Revolutionaries' attack once more after finishing last season first on the team in assists (47) and second in goals (69). Lueddemann, an all-around center, is coming off a career season in which he finished fourth on the team in goals (38), fourth in exclusions drawn (23) and sixth in steals (14).
NEWCOMERS
GW welcomed eight newcomers to the squad for 2024: Connor Jermain, Yam Kabakov, Antonio Florena, Rowan Keane, Joseph McCreary, Griffin Yamaoka, Andrei Khudiakov and Adonis Vlassis. The group includes seven first-years and one transfer (Vlassis), who comes to GW from St. Francis College (Brooklyn).
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
Mercyhurst
The Mercyhurst Lakers are MAWPC newcomers this season, and their warm welcome to the conference begins with a matchup vs. the Revolutionaries. Mercyhurst was just 4-22 last season, including an 0-3 record at the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championship.
Attacker Owen Hardner returns for the Lakers after leading the team with 54 goals a season ago. The Lakers also return center Asher Jones and attacker Keller Sens, who finished third and fourth on the team in points last season with 50 and 38, respectively. Tony Golin was the primary goalkeeper for Mercyhurst last season and returns for 2024, averaging 16.77 goals allowed per game with a .420 save percentage. Like GW, Mercyhurst has also gone youthful this season, welcoming seven first-years to the team for 2024.
GW last met Mercyhurst in 2022 which resulted in a 22-6 Buff & Blue victory.
McKendree
Second on the schedule for GW is the McKendree Bearcats out of the WWPA. The Bearcats are coming off a 9-14 season, which included a trip to the WWPA Championship semifinal round, where they fell 15-12 to Biola.
The Bearcats lost their leading goal scorer from last season, Breno Tebet (70 goals), but they return sophomore attacker Isaac Demski who finished second on the team with 53 goals. The Bearcats also return their leading goalkeeper, fifth-year Jimmy Cronin, who posted a .464 save percentage and 14.73 goals allowed average in 2023. McKendree is an experienced team heading into the season with an upperclassmen count of eight seniors, five juniors and one graduate student.
The Revolutionaries and Bearcats last met at the CWPA crossover weekend in 2022, where GW emerged with a 17-7 victory.
No. 5 Princeton
The Princeton Tigers earned a preseason ranking of fifth in the country after a dominant 2023 season. The Tigers were 28-6 last year, winning the Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship with an 8-5 victory over Harvard in the championship game. Princeton went on to compete in the NCAA Tournament, where they beat No. 8 UC Irvine in the first round, 12-7, before falling to No. 1 UCLA in the semifinal round, 17-13.
Utility Roko Pozaric returns to Princeton for his senior season after posting a gaudy 76 goals, 47 assists and 41 steals in 2023. The Tigers' leading assist man from 2023, utility JP Ohl (67 assists), also returns for another season. Kristóf Kovács and Wes Temkin split time equally in 2023, but Kovàcs (.594 save percentage, 14-4 record) is the only of the two remaining on the roster.
GW last met Princeton in an 18-3 loss at the start of last season in the Princeton Mini.
Salem
Salem is looking to repeat their success from last season, a year in which they went 19-4, including 6-0 in the WWPA regular season. The Tigers earned an automatic trip to the WWPA semifinal round as the top team in the East, but they were defeated by Concordia Irvine, 14-11, before downing McKendree 16-12 in the third-place game.
Salem's leading scorer in 2023 was utility Nikola Krstonosic, who returns for 2024 after posting an eye-popping 130 goals and 85 assists. Utility Marko Zivojinovic also returns for 2024, finishing second to Krstonosic in both categories after recording 103 goals and 65 assists a year ago. Goalkeepers Goncalo Silva and Duare Costa both return for another year after splitting the responsibility between the pipes, combining for a .508 save percentage and 12.59 goals allowed average.
GW bested Salem twice back in 2022, in a 23-6 victory on opening weekend and a 23-9 effort mid-season.
