Gannon Men's Water Polo won the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West Region Championship.

Men's Water Polo 11/5/2017 8:02:00 PM Levi Rex, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Gannon Men's Water Polo Wins Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conferece-West Region Championship; Sadikovic Named Tournament MVP (Video)

THE RUNDOWN

Final Score: #1 Gannon 15, #2 Mercyhurst 10
Records: Gannon 17-6 | Mercyhurst 11-10
Location: Erie, Pa. – David M. Hallman Event Center
The Short Story: The Gannon Men's Water Polo captured the 2017 MAWPC-West Region Championship with a 15-10 victory over Mercyhurst on Saturday, Nov. 5.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mercyhurst tallied the first two goals of the match, going up 2-0 after the first minute and six seconds.
Nick Williams (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge Island) got the Golden Knights on the board with a liner at the 6:33 mark of the first quarter.
Gilberto Millan (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico/Colegio San Jose) tied the match at two and then at three as the first quarter came to a close.
Gannon used a six-goal second quarter to stretch their lead to 9-5 by halftime. The Golden Knights strung together five-straight goals including a pair from Millan.
Zarko Sadikovic (Nis, Serbia/GTS Neimar) kicked off the second half with his second goal of the match.
Gannon stretched its lead, outscoring Mercyhurst, 5-3 in the quarter and led 14-8 with eight minutes to play.
Williams tallied the only fourth-quarter goal for the Golden Knights.

MATCH NOTES

Gannon connected on 15-of-31 from the field, 6-of-8 on powerplays.
Mercyhurst shot 10-of-36 overall and 4-of-15 on powerplays.
Millan had a match-high five goals for Gannon.
Williams (3), Thomas Squeglia (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) (2) and Sadikovic (2) also scored multiple goals in the match.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

Gannon and Mercyhurst advance to the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships at Navy from Nov. 17-19.
The Golden Knights made the finals after clearing Washington & Jefferson, 17-2, in the quarterfinals and La Salle, 12-9, in the semifinals.
The MAWPC-West Region Championships were created in 2016. Mercyhurst won the tournament in the first year of its existence.
Gannon has won 16-straight matches, a program record for the Golden Knights.
GU also won its 17^th match of the season, breaking 2003's record of 16 victories in a single season.
Millan moved into sole possession of third place with 172 career goals at Gannon.
Sadikovic was named the tournament MVP while also earning first-team honors. Williams also picked up a first-team all-tournament selection for Gannon.
Goalie Brett Rehrer (Chino Hills, Calif./Chino Hills) was voted to the second-team after anchoring the cage in all three Golden Knight' victories.

MAWPC-WEST REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

First Team
Andrew Too-A-Foo (Goalie) - Mercyhurst University
Daniel Alvarez - Mercyhurst University
Connor Schmitz - Mercyhurst University
Zarko Sadikovic (Nis, Serbia/GTS Neimar) - Gannon University
Nick Williams (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge Island) - Gannon University
Daniel Domotor - La Salle University
Djordje Stavrevski - Salem International University

UP NEXT

Gannon returns to the water in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships from Nov. 17-19 hosted by Navy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Golden Knights will receive the No. 7-seed in the tournament, taking on No. 2-seed George Washington in the first round.
The first-round match will be at 6 p.m.

Players Mentioned

#1 Brett Rehrer: Junior; Supply Chain Management/Sports Management and Marketing