W&J Men’s Water Polo Enters CWPA National Rankings
WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Association (CWPA) released its Division III Varsity Top 10 National Poll on Wednesday evening and Washington & Jefferson College entered the rankings for the first time in 2012 as the No. 10 ranked team.
The Presidents (4-4) cracked the national poll after a 2-1 home weekend in which it defeated Penn State-Behrend (12-10) and Salem International (13-11).
Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) leads the poll with 95 points and is followed by John Hopkins (93), Cal Lutheran (92), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (82) and MIT (76) in the top five. Redlands (75), Chapman (73), La Verne (71), Whittier (38) and W&J (35) round out the nationally-ranked teams. Seven of the top 10 teams hail from the state of California.
Washington & Jefferson is led by first-year Head Coach Jay O’Neil. O’Neil relies on the talented sophomore scoring duo of Mike Magdic (Franklin Park, Pa./North Allegheny) and Carl Krause (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) to guide the Presidents’ offense. Magdic leads the team with 23 goals, while Krause adds 11 goals and a team-high eight assists.
Defensively, senior Joey Weiland (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) paces the squad with 14 steals, while this week’s CWPA Southern Division Co-Rookie of the Week, freshman Kevin Dunigan (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), has accumulated 13.
Junior Dan Francisco (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) and sophomore Chris DeNunzio (Greenwich, Conn./Canterbury) split time in goal. Francisco has 55 saves, while DeNunzio has recorded 33.
The Presidents travel north to Erie, Pa., on Saturday for matches at Division II Mercyhurst (1:00 pm) and Penn State-Behrend (7:30 pm). W&J also takes on Division II Gannon Sunday morning at 10:00 am.
