You can help support this podcast by making a donation via PayPal. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to leave a review, send me an email or send me a tweet. It has truly meant the world to me! Remember you can reach me on twitter @stevecarrera and on instagram @stevecarrera and you can email me stevegcarrera@gmail.com ************************************************************************************************************************ Luis Nicolao was named the head water polo coach at the U.S. Naval Academy in January of 2018. A member of the Class of 1992, he was a standout for the Midshipmen as an athlete, earning All-America and All-East selection honors, graduating as the all-time leading scorer in Academy history. In 2022, Navy posted a 16-15 overall record with an 8-8 mark in conference play. The Midshipmen entered the MAWPC Tournament as the No. 6 seed, but victories over Mercyhurst (W, 21-9), Johns Hopkins (W, 15-11 in OT), and Wagner (W, 17-14) boosted Navy into fifth place. Michael Heller (first team), Jake Altmayer (honorable mention), and Caden Capobianco (honorable mention) led the team as All-Conference selections, while Heller was also named All-MAWPC Tournament (second team). Captains Jake Altmayer and Will Clark, along with Michael Heller led the Midshipmen offensively. Altmayer paced the offense with a team-high 81 points on 46 goals and a team-best 35 assists. Heller contributed a team-high 56 goals with 18 helpers to give him 74 total points, while Clark has a more balanced 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 total points. Tommy McKnew had 32 goals, while Travis Berzins added 27 scores. Nathan Duchez added 26 scores, while Hayden Kahn and Chris Kim notched 21 goals apiece to round out Navy’s 20-goal scorers. Ivan Pang and Rory Begin notched 25 and 21 assists to join Altmayer, Clark, and Heller in the top 5 in helpers. Defensively, Caden Capobianco saw a majority of time between the posts. He appeared in 28 of 31 games, notching 259 saves and registering a 47.3 save percentage. In addition, Capobianco led the team with 77 steals. Jack Hightower finished with 38 stops and a 42.7 save percentage with seven steals. Jake Altmayer, Michael Heller, and Travis Berzins led all position players with 21, 20, and 16 steals apiece. Hayden Kahn led the team with 30 ejections drawn, while Tommy McKnew was second with 28. Travis Berzins and Kyle Yelensky were next with 26 and 24, respectively. Navy played 12 (of 31) games against teams ranked (nine games) or receiving votes (3) in the CWPA national rankings, including three top 10 opponents - #1 Cal (back-to-back national champions), #3 USC, and #10 San Jose State. Ten (10) Navy student-athletes, including water polo players Peter Hillen and Graham Lindner, garnered College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District accolades for at-large sports. Hillen and Lindner, along with Navy gymnast Ian Dinmore, earned CSC Academic All-America honors. Dinmore and Hillen garnered first team recognition, while Lindner was noted on the second team. Navy was one of seven schools to put multiple athletes on the first and second teams. The 2021 water polo team finished the season 16-13 overall, including a 9-3 mark in conference play. Navy hosted the 2021 MAWPC Tournament at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md. The Mids entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, advancing to the championship game for the first time since 2011 with victories over (7) Gannon (W, 20-13) and (3) George Washington (W, 11-7). The Mids dropped a 9-6 decision to the top-seeded and nationally-ranked Fordham in the championship game. The second-place finish was the best for the Midshipmen since coming in as runner up in three consecutive seasons from 2009 to 2011. Navy placed two – Isaac Salinas and Caden Capobianco – on the 2021 ACWPC Men's Division I All-America teams as honorable mention selections. Salinas became the third player in program history to earn three All-American honors, joining Nick Hill (2000, '01, '02) and Luis Nicolao (1989, '90, '91), while Capobianco is the first Navy goalie to claim the distinction since Brett Rajchel ('10) in 2009. In addition, Salinas was named First Team All-MAWPC-East. It was the fourth time in his career that he was named all-conference and the third time earning first-team distinction. With the first-team accolade, he joined Kyle Wertz (2009, '10, '11), Alex Ratcliffe (2003, '04, '05), Luis Nicolao (1989, '90, '91), Tom Popp (1986, '87, '88), and Lawrence Kough (1983, '84, '85) as the only three-time First Team All-East honorees for Navy. The pair of Salinas and Capobianco were also named to the MAWPC Championship All-Tournament Team. Salinas was selected to the first team, while Capobianco earned second-team honors. Offensively in 2021, the Mids were led by Salinas, Jake Altmayer, Hayden Kahn, Jack Weggeland, and Will Clark. Salinas led all Midshipmen with 80 total points, including a team-best 61 goals. Altmayer led the team with 29 assists and chipped in 23 goals for 52 total points. Weggeland was third on the team with 42 points on 24 goals and 18 assists. Kahn (37g 3a) and Clark (17g 22a) rounded out Navy's top-five scorers with 40 and 39 points, respectively. Defensively, Capobianco and Max Sandberg saw a majority of the action at goal. Capobianco led the team with 242 saves in 24 games played, while registering a team-high 71 steals. Sandberg played in 13 games with 79 stops and 13 steals. Navy water polo spent 14 of the 15 weeks of the 2021 season ranked or receiving votes in the CWPA national rankings. Navy was ranked #19 in the preseason poll, while ranking #20 during week three and week seven of competition. The Mids ranked #19 during the final regular season week of the season (week 10) before moving back to #20 entering the conference tournament (week 11). The Midshipmen finished the year receiving votes in the final CWPA poll. Once again, the Midshipmen participated in a daunting schedule, playing 15 (of 29) games against teams ranked (10 games) or receiving votes (5) in the CWPA national rankings. The Mids squared off against six top 10 opponents with three top five matchups, including hosting the eventual national champion, Cal. In the classroom, Peter Hillen (’23) was named a Third-Team Academic-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in the at-large category. Hillen, who was the only water polo player in the country represented on the list of 2021-22 Academic All-Americans, became the fifth different (sixth total) Navy water polo player to garner the award and the first since Jackson Hummeldorf was named to the first team in 2012-13. Additionally, Navy had 12 student-athletes named to 2021 ACWPC All-Academic teams. Jake Altmayer, Caden Capobianco, Jamie Cassidy, Kyle Faison, Jonas Greer, Peter Hillen, Graham Lindner, Kenny McKinlay, and Sean O'Boyle led Navy as members of the Outstanding ranks (3.71-4.00 GPA), while Liam McInerney was named to the Superior team (3.41-3.70). Jordan Corpuz and Connor Simpson rounded out the Midshipmen on the list on the Excellent team (3.20-3.40). In addition, Navy was recognized for achieving a 3.08 collective GPA. The 2020 water polo season was moved to the spring and shortened due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Navy finished the season 6-1 overall. The Mids finished the regular season in first place in the conference and were set to be the top seed in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Tournament, but were not allowed to compete in the tournament due to the Naval Academy being under a restriction of movement (ROM). The water polo team was ranked #8 in the final top 10 of the national rankings of the year. The Mids were ranked all 10 weeks of the season, dating back to the preseason poll. Navy was selected 14th in the initial National Top 20 by the CWPA. With multiple teams withdrawing from competition, the CWPA elected to do a Top 10 throughout the season. In the first Top 10 poll, Navy rose to #9 before entering the first week of competition ranked #10. Isaac Salinas finished the shortened season with a team-high 23 points on a team-high 20 goals with three assists. He was joined by Jake Altmayer who finished with 18 points, including a team-best 12 assists. Bobby Lee added 17 points (12g 5a), while Bobby Wall (5g 7a), Payton Comstock (7g 4a), and Ivan Pang (4g 6a) finished with 12, 11, and 10 points, respectively. Defensively, Jack Weggeland paced Navy’s position players with eight steals, while Cole Jacobs and Isaac Salinas added six apiece. Travis Berzins and Kyle Yelensky registered seven ejections drawn each to lead the team, while Salinas added six. At goal, the Mids used a pair of goalies – Max Sandberg and Caden Capobianco. The Navy goalies recorded 74 saves and a save percentage of 60.2. Sandberg recorded a team-best 44 saves, while Capobianco added 30. Sandberg led the team with a 65.7 save percentage with Capobianco registering a 53.6 clip. Capobianco led the team with 10 steals in his rookie campaign. The Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) announced the 2020-21 Men's Water Polo All-America teams and attacker Isaac Salinas was selected to the second team. Salinas became the third Midshipmen to earn Second Team All-American honors and the first to claim the distinction since Aaron Recko (’08) in 2007. Salinas became the eleventh player in program history to earn multiple All-American honors and the first since Carl Dowzicky (’16) who was an All-American in 2013 and 2015. The conference announced its All-MAWPC teams for the East Region and Navy had three student-athletes represented. Isaac Salinas was named to the first team, while Bobby Lee and Jake Altmayer earned second-team honors. The Navy water polo team had 14 of its student-athletes named to 2020-21 ACWPC All-Academic teams. Jake Altmayer, Caden Capobianco, Jamie Cassidy, Kyle Faison,
