Alex Wagner
Sports Editor
Player Profile
Matt Napleton
Senior
Oak Park, Ill.
Economics and Political Science
Season stats:
14 starts in 14 games
128 saves in 416 minutes played
.487 save percentage
Matt Napleton ’13 was a focal point of the men’s water polo team as they added two wins to their official record over the course of last weekend. Going into the contests on a five game losing streak meant that the senior leaders on the team needed to step up and bring it to an end. Napleton did just that.
In the first game against MIT, he had seven saves to help keep the opponent’s attack in check. Against Harvard, Napleton was exceptional, racking up 21 saves to keep the Orange and Blue in the game. His performance led him to become the first Bison since 2001 to have at least 20 saves in a game. In addition, his save total on the day was just three short of equaling the program record for saves in a game.
“We were happy to come out of this weekend 4-0, but we have some issues we need to address if we’re going to win the key games we have in the next couple weeks. Our offense started to come together this weekend. Mike [Kimble ’14] and Jack [Else ’14] did a great job at center to let us get into our extra man offense. Our defense needs to improve; we can’t allow ourselves to get ejected and give the other team easy scoring chances,” Napleton said.
Despite the team’s strong performance, Napleton knows they still need to continue improving.
“Going forward, we can use this weekend to identify our weaknesses and work to fix them. Everyone on this team has areas they can improve in, and we need to do so,” Napleton said.