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Navy 2008 NCAA Championship Notes
2008 NCAA
Championship Notes - Navy (PDF)
Mids Take on Trojans in
National Semifinals on Saturday
The Navy Water Polo team begins its quest for its first national
championship on Saturday evening with a national semifinals matchup
against top-ranked and undefeated USC. The fourth-seeded and
11th-ranked Mids enter the tournament with a 20-9 overall record,
while USC is 27-0. The other semifinal pits the second seed
and No. 3-ranked Stanford (24-5) against third-seeded and
fifth-ranked Loyola Marymount (20-9). Navy and USC will be
the first game, beginning at 5:00 pm PT (8:00 pm ET). The
second game will start at 6:45 pm PT.
Navy Looks To Make History
One year after becoming the first Eastern team to win a
NCAA Tournament game since 2002, Navy is looking to become
the first Eastern team to reach the title game in
NCAA history. Since the field was reduced to four teams in
1995, no Eastern team has won a semifinal game and no Eastern team
has ever appeared in the NCAA title game. Navy enters
tournament play with a 6-29 all-time record in 13 previous
appearances. Navy's 14th appearance is its third in a row and the
sixth most in NCAA history. USC and Stanford have
combined for 13 of the previous 39 NCAA titles, while Navy
and Loyola Marymount are looking for its first title. Neither Navy
nor LMU has made the NCAA title game.
Mids Claim
Back-to-Back-to-Back Eastern Titles
Navy earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the
third straight year after winning its ninth Eastern Championship
two weeks ago. The Midshipmen are making their third straight
appearance in the tournament for the first time since making five
straight trips from 1990-94. It will be Navy's fifth trip since
1995, when the current four-team format when into effect. Navy has
won five of its nine Eastern titles in the last nine years (since
2000).
In last year's semifinal match against the eventual champion,
California, the Mids dropped a tough 8-5 decision. Navy led early
on, but trailed 7-5 late in the contest. With a great look at the
goal to cut the lead to one, the shot went wide and California
added an insurance goal to round out the scoring. Two years ago,
Navy was overwhelmed by USC, 20-3, in the semfinals.
Have We Met Before?
The Mids will face an old nemesis in the
NCAA Tournament in the first round in USC. The Trojans and
Mids have met six times in the NCAA Championship, with the
Trojans winning all six by an average margin of 7.0 goals per game.
In the two teams' last meeting in the 2006 semifinals,
USC topped the Mids, 20-3. USC is 10-0 all-time against
Navy, including 6-0 in the NCAA Tourney.
Navy defeated Loyola Marymount in last year's third-place game,
7-6. The Lions have defeated the Midshipmen this year, 9-4, in the
NorCal Tournament on Sept. 20. The Lions own a 4-3 series advantage
and the two teams have split two meetings in the
NCAA Tournament.
Stanford owns a 10-0 advantage against Navy, including a 13-4
victory in the Princeton Invitational on Sept. 13. The teams
haven't met in the NCAA Tournament since 1993.
