Men’s water polo close to first
winning season in program history

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(11/2022) At the end of the 2021-22 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Championship season, the Mount sat at a record of 7-24, going 1-11 in conference play. An especially hard lose came at home against Johns Hopkins on November 12, when a last second goal was given up, resulting in a 13-12 loss for the Mount. It seemed as if that was the story of the team last season, not being able to catch a break in the final quarter of games. But that is not the case for the current team, as the three-year-old program seems to be garnering some steam into a successful program, as they are now one win away from their first winning season in the team’s history.

The team played its first year in the MAWP in 2020, a season that only consisted of nine games and was wrapped up before the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Their record was 5-4 and in conference play they were 3-2. It was a good start for the first-year program at the time but playing under ten games must not have left them with a lot of experience going into the second year. 2021-22 was a completely different story, and a tough one: they lost most of the games they played and were outscore 459 to 340.

As of October 15th of this year, the Mount stands at a record of 13-8 and a conference record of 6-5, matching their previous win record of seven on September 24th with a 18-8 win over Mercyhurst at the Bucknell Invite. Standout games include a 13-12 overtime against Iona during the first game of the season, a program record score of 28-14 against Penn State Behrend and a 21-12 win at home against Johns Hopkins in what seemed to be revenge for last season’s heartbreak at the ARCC pool. The team right now is showing that the growing pains of yesteryear are over, and that they are growing into one of the school’s top programs.

The Mountaineers have a lot of good individual performances at the moment, as there are many new faces that have been contributing to the team’s success. Sophomore Tommaso Baldinetti of Recco, Italy has stepped up in a massive way, leading the team in goals with 104, leading in multi-goal games at 17, leading in games with a hattrick at 16 and leading in multi-assist games with 14. First year student Chrysostomos Valavanis of Athens, Greece is right behind Baldinetti in both multi-goal games and games with a hattrick at 13 and 7, respectively. And junior Joseph Maxson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida is in between the goalposts most of the games, leading the team’s goalkeeper corps with 136 saves, and has even contributed with a goal of his own. But he is not alone, as head coach Alyssa Diacono likes to give Maxson a break during games and put in first year student Sherif Hosni of Cairo, Egypt. Hosni is behind Maxson in saves with 48.

Men’s water polo was slated to play both Bucknell and Navy on October 15th, with games starting at 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. respectively. Their record at the time sat at 12-7, and they looked to capture their first winning season in program history at their home pool. Even the university being on fall break did not stop a good portion of the student body from showing up to both games in the afternoon. They were so alive, and with the echo of the pool were almost like an eighth man in the pool, easily being heard in the press box, and most likely the rest of the ARCC.

The beginning of the Bucknell game started off differently for the Mountaineers, as they found themselves down 6-3 at halftime. But they battled back in the third quarter, scoring four goals while only allowing one from the Bisons, with a backhanded goal scored by junior Kiahi Horan being a major inspiration to the men in the pool. But their lead fell apart in the final quarter as they were outscored 5-1 and, in the end, Bucknell came out on top 12-8. With a tough loss like that, the team hoped for a better performance against the incoming Navy Midshipmen and a return of the electric student section. Neither of the two parties disappointed.

To build off the ending of the Bucknell game, the team had to lock up defensively, while also being able to go down the pool and get around the solid defense that they knew Navy was going to put up against them. The communication from the defenders and goalkeepers were good; however, there was a lack of communication during the panic of a fastbreak down the pool. The whole team knew they had to get back on defense to give the defenders and the goalkeepers enough time to get set before the next attack. That was their goal going into the game at 7:00 p.m.

As the Midshipmen made their way into the ARCC pool, there was an air around the Mountaineers that they had to get something done, both to stay in the running for a spot in the MAWP playoffs and to try and get closer to that program record. "We just have to keep doing what were doing and the belief in what we are working on is going to work, and so we just went back to our roots, and we were having fun," head coach Diacono said.

In the first quarter, Navy was on top 6-3, with the team still having some recovery issues from the last quarter of the Bucknell game. But they came alive in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Midshipmen 7-2 and took a 10-8 lead into halftime. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Diacono as well as her assistant coach, Justin Vink, decided to make the move in goal that they had been doing all season, put Hosni in goal and give Maxson a rest. They did this earlier in the day against Bucknell, but it did not payoff the way they though it would. But Hosni was not going to let previous performances define him, as he made three saves in the quarter only allowing three goals to preserve a 12-11 lead for the Mountaineers going into the final quarter. Maxson was put back in goal for the final eight minutes and came up clutch when needed, saving a shot on the line to stop a Navy goal. With the score tied at 14-14 and under ten seconds left on the clock, the Mount scored, and the pool deck went ballistic. 15-14 was the final score and the team secured a win to keep their season hopes alive.

After the game, both Maxson and Hosni had praise for both the team and each other. "We have to keep them [the team] in that mindset of we have to stop them, we can’t let them shoot anymore goals or else we will fall apart," Maxson said. On the importance of playing in clutch situations, Hosni added, "I am always grateful for the opportunity to hop in the pool and a goalie is only as good as its defense, and in the third quarter, the defense was very good."