Air Force Academy
United States Naval Academy
Air Force faces Navy to open four-game east coast swing
9/22/2021 7:55:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: Air Force (8-1 overall, 1-0 WWPA) begins a four-game eastern road swing against service academy rival Navy (4-3 overall) on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7 pm ET in Annapolis. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Air Force will then play MIT (10 am ET) and Brown (6 pm ET) on Saturday, Sept. 25, in Providence, R.I. The road swing ends with a game at Harvard on Sunday, Sept. 26, at 10 am ET in Cambridge, Mass.
The Navy Series: Air Force and Navy will meet for the 34th time in the history of the series and the first time 2019. Navy leads the series, 23-10. Air Force won three straight from 2015-17. Navy has won the last two, both close games. The Mids defeated Air Force, 11-9, at the 2018 Princeton Invitational and 13-12 at the 2019 Troyer Invitational in Pomona, Calif. Several current Falcons played in the 2019 game. Current Air Force senior goalie Anthony Tolbert made nine saves. Seniors Gavin Jones, Grant Snyder and Sam Fuller all scored in the game.
Series Records: Air Force and Harvard meet with the seventh time and the Falcons hold a 4-2 lead in the series. The teams last met in 2016 when Harvard defeated the Falcons, 13-12. Air Force and Brown meet for the 25th time and the Bears hold a 13-11 lead in the series. Air Force defeated Brown, 14-12, at the Academy in 2019.
About the Mids: Navy is 4-3 overall this season with all three losses coming to top 10 teams. The Mids opened the season by hosting the Navy Open. Navy fell to No. 3 Cal and No. 9 UC Davis while beating Salem and Iona. At the Princeton Invitational, Navy defeated both Brown and Iona with the only loss coming to No. 3 Stanford. Isaac Salinas leads the team with 13 goals and 19 points.
The Air Force-Navy Vase: The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy of water polo is on the line this week as Air Force and Navy play for The Vase. Since Army has a club team, the battle for service academy supremacy in water polo comes down to the Falcons and Mids. In 2009, Bruce Hopping, with the Kalos Kagathos Foundation in Laguna Beach, Calif., created The Vase to be awarded to the winner of the Air Force-Navy water polo game each season. Over the years, Kalos Kagathos has presented small sculptures to distinguished swimmers, divers and water polo players. The group has presented sculptures to athletes at most of the Olympics since 1960, including the 1984 Los Angeles games when the group honored gold medal winning diver Greg Louganis. Hopping is also responsible for a nine-foot-tall piece celebrating water sports that was first unveiled at the 1972 Olympics in Munich and is now displayed at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Last Week: Air Force opened Western Water Polo Association play by taking a pair of games from Fresno Pacific, Saturday, Sept. 18, at the Cadet Natatorium. The Falcons improved to 8-1 overall this season, by defeating FPU, 26-12 in a WWPA game, and 24-8 in a non-conference game later in the day. In the conference game, Air Force broke open a close game with nine goals in the second quarter and seven more in the third. Freshman Jacob Yi scored twice and senior Sam Fuller scored three for a 14-6 lead at the half. Fuller netted his fifth of the game and Grant Snyder scored two as the Falcons had a 21-9 lead after three quarters. Fuller and Snyder each finished the game with five goals. Yi had a career-best four and freshman Zack Rath had three. Anthony Tolbert made 10 saves for the Falcons. In the second game, Air Force took control early with four unanswered goals for a 5-1 lead after the first quarter. Fuller scored twice in the first quarter and another midway through the second as the Falcons took a 9-2 lead. Four straight goals by freshmen in the third (Yi, Sage Brady and Rath) gave the Falcons a 19-7 lead entering the fourth. Rath had a career-high four goals in the game and Fuller added three. Tolbert made four saves in the first half. Freshman Liam Markus played in goal in the second half and also made four saves.
Best Start in 30 years: Air Force opened the 2021 season with six straight wins, before falling to No. 6 Long Beach State. The six-game winning streak is the longest since the 2008 team won seven in a row at midseason. The 8-1 start ties as the best since 1978. Air Force was also 8-1 to open the 1991 season. The 1978 team opened up 10-1.
Sammy on a Tear: Senior Sam Fuller has been on a tear this season. After opening the season with two assists in the win over Claremont Mudd Scripps, Fuller has scored 27 goals in the last eight games and has a goal in seven of the nine games this season. He was named the WWPA Player of the Week with 11 goals and 15 points in four games in the Inland Empire Classic in Redlands. Last week against Fresno Pacific, he had eight goals and one assist. He matched his career high with five goals and six points in the first game against FPU.
All-American Grant Snyder: Senior Grant Snyder, a second-team All-American last season, picked up right where he left off last season. Snyder had a career-best nine goals in a season-opening win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. He had 16 goals in the first three games of the season and added seven more at the Inland Empire Tournament. In the first game against FPU, Sept. 18, he had five goals and one assist. He has scored a goal in all nine games this season. In addition to his scoring, he leads the team with 18 sprint victories, is tied for the team lead with 15 steals and is second on the team with 16 drawn exclusions.
Inside the Numbers: Grant Snyder and Sam Fuller rank first and second, respectively, in the WWPA in both goals and points. Snyder ranks sixth in the nation in goals (30) while Fuller is 10th (27). Snyder is 10th in the nation points (37). Snyder also ranks third in sprint victories 18 and seventh in steals. Freshman Ryan McLaughlin is sixth in the nation in assists (18) while sophomore Ian Christie is eighth (16). Christie is also seventh in steals (15).
2020 WWPA Champions: Air Force won its first ever WWPA regular season championship in 2020 with a perfect 2-0 record in conference play. The Falcons defeated Loyola Marymount, 15-13 in overtime, and Cal Baptist, 15-14, in overtime, in designated conference games. Air Force was the No. 1 seed in the WWPA Tournament for the first time ever, but fell to Cal Baptist, 11-9, in the title game. Air Force finished the season ranked eighth in the nation. The Falcons finished the season with a 4-7 overall record.
