Three Hat Tricks Power Mount St. Mary’s Water Polo Past LIU, 13-10
Mount St. Mary’s men’s water polo opened the Princeton Invitational in impressive fashion Friday afternoon, defeating LIU, 13-10, at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, New Jersey. The Mountaineers received hat tricks from Aleksandar Radosavljevic, Luka Urosevic and Neven Cerkez as their balanced attack proved too much for the Sharks. The victory improved Mount St. Mary’s to 2-2 on the young season and gave the Mount a strong start to a challenging four-game weekend.
Mount St. Mary’s entered the Princeton Invitational after going 1-2 during its season-opening weekend at the Navy Open. The Mountaineers defeated Austin College, 16-12, while suffering competitive losses to Navy, 15-14, and Air Force, 17-13. Urosevic had already established himself as one of Mount St. Mary’s top offensive threats with 11 goals over those first three contests, including six in the victory over Austin College.
That offensive production continued against LIU, but Urosevic was far from alone.
Radosavljevic opened the scoring for Mount St. Mary’s before Urosevic took over offensively. Urosevic scored three times to complete an early hat trick, while Giannis Skliras also found the back of the net. Mount St. Mary’s carried a 5-3 advantage into the second half, putting itself in position to control the game behind an offense that continued generating scoring opportunities.
The Mountaineers did not allow LIU to take control after the break. Will Matthews opened Mount St. Mary’s second-half scoring before Cerkez struck twice, adding another dangerous scoring option to an already productive attack. Cerkez, a junior from Belgrade, Serbia, entered the weekend with four goals through the Mount’s opening three games and continued his productive start to the season against the Sharks.
Mount St. Mary’s continued to spread the scoring around during the fourth quarter. Aaron Tarr scored before Radosavljevic added two more goals to complete his hat trick. Giacomo Graff also scored, while Cerkez added his third goal to complete the Mountaineers’ third hat trick of the afternoon.
Radosavljevic, Urosevic and Cerkez finished with three goals apiece, accounting for nine of Mount St. Mary’s 13 goals. Skliras, Matthews, Tarr and Graff supplied one goal apiece, meaning seven different Mountaineers scored in the victory. That balance allowed Mount St. Mary’s to finish off the 13-10 win rather than relying on one scorer to carry the offense.
The performance from Urosevic continued an excellent beginning to his freshman season. The 6-foot-5 center from Sabac, Serbia, entered the Princeton Invitational as Mount St. Mary’s leading scorer after his 11-goal performance during the opening weekend. His three goals against LIU pushed his early-season total to 14 through the Mountaineers’ first four games.
Radosavljevic also continued to show that he can provide another major scoring threat. He had scored four times against Navy during the season-opening weekend before producing three more against LIU. With Urosevic operating in the middle and players such as Radosavljevic and Cerkez contributing from elsewhere in the attack, Mount St. Mary’s is beginning to show considerable offensive depth.
The victory was especially encouraging because the Mountaineers had already demonstrated that they could compete against quality opposition. Mount St. Mary’s lost to Navy by only one goal and remained competitive against Air Force before dropping that contest, 17-13. Turning another close game into a victory against LIU represented an important early-season result for a Mount team looking to build momentum before conference play becomes a larger part of the schedule.
Mount St. Mary’s still had a demanding weekend ahead following Friday’s victory. The Princeton Invitational schedule called for the Mountaineers to face Saint Mary’s on Saturday before playing Iona and host Princeton in a Sunday doubleheader. The four-game event provides Mount St. Mary’s with an opportunity to gain valuable experience against several different opponents before traveling to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for the Bucknell Invitational the following weekend.
For the Mount, however, Friday belonged to its offense. Three players recording hat tricks in the same game is an impressive display of scoring balance, and Mount St. Mary’s needed all of that production to put away LIU. With seven players reaching the scoresheet and three accounting for nine goals, the Mountaineers delivered one of their most balanced offensive performances of the young season.
MSB Take
Mount St. Mary’s has plenty to like about this victory, particularly the number of different players capable of producing offensively. Urosevic has quickly emerged as a major scoring weapon, but Friday showed that opponents cannot simply concentrate on slowing him down. Radosavljevic and Cerkez each producing hat tricks gives the Mount another dimension, while four additional players finding the net demonstrates the depth of this attack.
The Mountaineers were already competitive against Navy and Air Force during opening weekend, but close performances become much more meaningful when a team begins converting them into victories. Beating LIU, 13-10, and improving to 2-2 gives Mount St. Mary’s some early momentum. If the Mount can continue getting this type of balanced scoring throughout the season, the Mountaineers could become a difficult team for opponents to contain.
