MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Washington and Jefferson men's water polo dropped two games to Mercyhurst University and Salem University respectively on Saturday at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
 
Mercyhurst 14, W&J 9
 
The Presidents held the Lakers to a 4-4 game at the half before Mercyhurst pulled away with a strong second half to come away with the win.
 
W&J reached the scoring column first with a goal in the first minute of play scored by junior Chris Edwards (Bexley, Ohio / St. Charles Prep). Mercyhurst followed close behind scoring in the third minute before Kailer Spicer (East Lansing, Mich. / East Lansing) found the back of the net 28 seconds later to put W&J out front once again 2-1. Edwards would collect his second goal with two minutes left in the first quarter.
 
The Lakers would come out strong in the second quarter to score the first three consecutive goals before Edwards would find the back of the net for a third time evening the score out at 4-4 to enter the second half.
 
Mercyhurst would collect two more goals in the first two minutes in the third quarter before Edwards tallied on a fourth goal with four minutes remaining. Mercyhurst would then score once more before the conclusion of the third quarter.
 
The Lakers would then go on to have a breakout quarter scoring seven goals on the eight minutes. W&J would tack on only four more goals, scored by Elijah Muzzi (Honolulu, Hawaii / Punahou), Edwards, and Lazar Marsenic (Park Ridge, Ill. / Maine South) respectively with Edwards scoring back-to-back goals.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Timothy Deutsch (Hazleton, Pa. / Hazelton) recorded eight saves throughout the game for the Red & Black.
 
Salem 18 – W&J 10
 
Salem gained an early lead scoring the first two points of the contest. Junior Aiden Johnson (Nassau, Bahamas / Windsor) would then put up the first point for the Red & Black before the Tigers would then score two more back-to-back points. Edwards would find the back of the net to score his only goal of the contest for the Presidents and close out the first quarter.
 
W&J would match Salem for goals in the second quarter with four goals for each team. Sean McClellan (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny) would collect two goals, and the remaining two would be scored by Aiden Miller (Grove City, Ohio / St. Charles Prep), and Spicer.
 
Salem would take the contest with a strong second half outscoring W&J 10-4. The Presidents 4 goals would be split up, one coming from Spicer and the remaining three would come from Miller.
 
Deutsch recorded six saves in the loss for the Red & Black.
 
The Presidents will return to the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in W.Va. to take on Gannon on Saturday, September 23^rd at 3:30 p.m.