MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men's water polo team closed out its 2021 season with a pair of narrow losses at the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference West Region Championships on Saturday at Mylan Park in Morgantown. 

W&J, who entered as the No. 4 seed, opened the day with a 12-10 loss to No. 5 Mercyhurst. The Presidents then suffered an 18-16 loss Saturday evening to third-seeded Salem University. 

Mercyhurst 12, W&J 10 

The Presidents and Lakers battled through a back and forth contest Saturday afternoon. W&J trailed 3-2 after the first and 6-5 at halftime.

After giving up the first two goals in the third quarter to fall behind by three goals (8-5), W&J countered with four straight goals to take its first lead at 9-8. Chris Edwards (Bexley, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) and Ryan Bannon (Broomfield, Colo./Broomfield) opened the run with back-to-back goals before Andrew Edwards (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) put the Presidents in front with a pair of third quarter scores. The Lakers countered with the final scoring tally of the quarter to even the score at 9-9 heading to the fourth. 

The Lakers earned the victory by recording three of the four goals in the fourth quarter. Mercyhurst tallied three goals in a row before Anthony Ames (Canyon County, Calif./Canyon) registered the final goal of the match with 1:47 to play. 

Caine Dusza (Souderton, Pa./Souderton) played the entire match in goal and made 12 saves for W&J. Andrew Edwards tallied three goals to pace the offense. 


Salem 18, W&J 16

W&J held early leads in the nightcap. A goal by Bannon gave the Presidents a one-goal lead late in the first before a Salem score evened things at 4-4 after one quarter of play. With the score tied at 6-6 midway through the second quarter, Salem tallied back-to-back goals to take an 8-6 lead into halftime. 

The Presidents opened the third quarter with three straight goals to take a 9-8 advantage. Mitchell Rubio (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) sparked the run with back-to-back goals before Bannon gave W&J the one-goal edge. Salem was able to seize momentum and control by scoring four of the final five goals in the frame to take a 12-10 lead into the fourth . 

Salem extended its lead to as many as five goals (18-13) with 1:38 to play in the fourth quarter. Kyle Rubenstein (Abington, Pa./Upper Dublin) tallied a pair of goals in the final minute and a half to bring the score to 18-16. 

Rubio led the Presidents with five goals against Salem. Dusza recorded seven saves before giving way to Zishuo Ma (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos), who recorded six saves. 


NOTE: Following the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday, senior Cam Spicer (Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) was named to the All-Tournament Team.