EMMITSBURG, Md. (November 5, 2022) – With the ball in their hands for the last play, Mount St. Mary's men's water polo had the chance to force overtime against Wagner. But a pair of last second attempts came up short as the Seahawks escaped with a 13-12 win.
 
Tommaso Baldineti led the way with five goals for the Mountaineers, including three first half scores and a pair of penalty shots. Chrysostomos Valavanis compiled a hat trick, and Alexandros Bellesis was a multi-goal scorer.
 
Eli Thalos helped the Mount rally from an early deficit with a goal at the 22 second mark of the first period. A couple of skipped shots by the Seahawks gave them the lead back in the second quarter, but a 3-0 run with two Valavanis scores propelled the Mount to a 6-5 advantage. Wagner countered with two more for a 7-6 halftime edge.
 
Separation created by the visitors built up a 12-9 lead after three frames. Bellesis broke the ice to open the fourth quarter scoring, but Wagner returned the favor to make it 13-10. Kiahi Horan delivered a goal with 4:52 left to push the deficit back to two. Then each side's defense stepped up, resulting in several frustrating stops for offenses. Baldineti managed to curve a goal in with 42 seconds to go as the team began to run out of possessions.
 
After Wagner played keep away and ran out the clock, the Mount had 12 seconds to work with. The first attempt at four seconds got deflected, and one final effort was defended by the Seahawks.
 
Mount St. Mary's stands at 13-12 (6-9 MAWPC) and wraps up the regular season tomorrow (Nov. 6) at Bucknell. A 2 p.m. start is on schedule.
 
Wagner 13, Mount St. Mary's 12
 
Team                 1    2    3    4
Mount St. Mary's     3    3    3    3
Wagner               3    4    5    1
 
Goals: Baldineti 5, Valavanis 3, Bellesis 2, Horan 1, Thalos 1
 
Saves: Maxson 7, Hosni 2