Courtesy: Collegiate Water Polo
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Winter 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region Champion McKendree University placed three athletes on the First Team and garnered four total honors on the MAWPC-West All-Conference Team as voted by the league’s six head coaches.
Leading the Bearcats is Most Valuable Player and First Team selection Matthew Haygood (Jr., Chino HIlls, Calif./Chino Hills). A three-time All-Conference selection following Second (2018) and First (2019) team recognition the past two seasons, the MVP award marks his second of the season after notching the Most Valuable Player award for leading McKendree to the title at the Winter 2021 MAWPC-West Championship.
Haygood becomes the first McKendree athlete to claim MVP accolades in the history of the MAWPC-West as Milos Popovic (Salem University, 2019), Brett Rehrer (Gannon University, 2018), Zarko Sadikovic (Gannon, 2017) and Gilberto Milan (Gannon, 2016) previously earned the award.
Joining him on the First Team are first-time All-Conference recipient Nico Rodriguez (Jr., Bogota, Colombia/Oviedo) and goalie Ori Scanlon (Sr., Orlando, Fla./Olympia). Scanlon’s selection marks the third of his tenure at McKendree as he previously claimed Second Team laurels in 2018 and 2019.
Winter 2021 MAWPC-West Championship runner-up Gannon places two athletes on the First Team as Vladimir Mickic (So., Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla) and Anthony Squeglia (Sr., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) pick up their inaugural All-Conference awards. Squeglia’s selection continues a family tradition as his brother Thomas Squeglia ’20 received First Team recognition in 2018 and 2019.
Another pair of first-time All-Conference honorees round out the seven best players as Mercyhurst University’s Mathieu Davis (Jr., Montego Bay, Jamaica/Wolmer’s Boys’ School) and Winter 2021 MAWPC-West Rookie of the Year/MAWPC-West Championship Rookie of the Tournament Jason O’Donnell (Fr., Beaconsfield, Quebec/John Abbott College) of Mount St. Mary’s University receive nods.
O’Donnell’s selection is the inaugural individual honor bestowed on an athlete from the Mountaineers’ program as he follows Jacob Hollo (Gannon, 2019), Will Kitsch (Washington & Jefferson College, 2018), Petar Leontijevic (Salem, 2017) and Sean Morphy (2016, Gannon) in picking up Rookie of the Year accolades.
The Second Team features nine athletes as ties occur at goalie and for the sixth field position
Gannon receives a pair of Second Team nods as 2019 First Team selection and Rookie of the Year selection Jacob Hollo (So., Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) is joined by Robert Bolmanski (Jr., Erie, Pa./McDowell). Mount St. Mary’s also notches two Second Team picks as goalie Marko Kruska (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia/West Valley College) and Eli Thalos (Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah/West) receive recognition at the conclusion of their institution’s first varsity season. Similarly, Salem earns a pair of laurels as Chad Rowley (So., Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago/Fatima College) and Ivan Zijovinovic (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia) earn All-Conference status.
Mercyhurst’s Derek Kagen (So., San Diego, Calif./Clairemont), McKendree’s Michael Rojas () and W&J’s Will Kitsch (Jr., Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) complete the 16-athlete All-Conference Team as the Lakers, Bearcats and Presidents each record solo Second Team awards. The accolade marks the third of Kitsch’s intercollegiate tenure following 2018 Rookie of the Year, 2018 First Team and 2019 Second Team honors, while Rojas picks up his third Second Team certificate after previously making the 2018 and 2019 squads.
On the bench, McKendree head coach Colleen Lischwe – who also claimed Winter 2021 MAWPC-West Championship Coach of the Tournament honors – is named the MAWPC-West Coach of the Year.
The award marks the first received by a woman as Curtis Robinette (Mercyhurst, 2019) and Sean Morphy (Gannon, 2018; Gannon, 2017; Gannon 2016) were previously recognized with Coach of the Year laurels.