Air Force Downs Navy 13-12 In Triple Overtime

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Air Force men's water polo (8-3) defeated #20 Navy (4-5) 13-12 in triple-overtime in front of a capacity crowd Thursday night at the Cadet Natatorium. Senior Grant Snyder scored the golden goal in the sudden-death third overtime for the Falcon win.

Early in the third overtime, sophomore Jacob Yi drew a foul by Navy's Connor Simpson, which led to a penalty shot taken by Snyder. Snyder fired to the top left corner for the game-winner at the 1:48 mark in the third overtime, sending the team and Air Force crowd into a frenzy.

Snyder was one of four Falcons with three goals scored. Juniors Ian Christie and Cole Kopperud and freshman Colin Chase also netted three scores. Senior AJ Kuypers came up with several big stops in goal for the Falcons, tallying 14 saves on the night.

With the win, Air Force maintained the newly named Freedom Vase, which goes to the winning team between Air Force and Navy. The Falcons have now won The Freedom Vase five of the last eight seasons.

"Both teams were fantastic in the water today," head coach Ryan Brown said. "Everybody battled. We hang our hat on defense and it was our defense that kept us in this game. Getting this win was a great start to help springboard us into the Rare Air Challenge starting tomorrow."

Air Force jumped out on Navy early, taking a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. The Midshipmen game back in the second with a 4-1 scoring advantage to take a 5-4 lead. The third quarter opened up the scoring as the Falcons out-scored the Mids 5-3 to jump back ahead 9-8. Navy was able to the tie game up with two goals to Air Force's one in the fourth to send the game into overtime.

Air Force out-scored Navy 2-1 in the first overtime, before Navy rallied with a 2-1 advantage in the second overtime. Snyder, who scored Air Force's final two goals, then scored the golden goal in the third OT.

Air Force has a short rest, returning to action tomorrow hosting the Rare Air Challenge tournament from Fri.-Sun., Sept. 16-18. The Falcons open Friday's action against Iona at 12:30 pm MT and St. Francis College at 6 pm.

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