The Monmouth College men's water polo team faced their stiffest competition of the year this weekend at the South Division Championships hosted by Bucknell University, facing the U.S. Naval Academy and George Washington University in pool play.

      Seeded ninth, their highest seed in program history, the Scots faced George Washington University in Friday's opening match and then met the U.S. Naval Academy – ranked sixth in the national varsity polls – on Saturday. The matches set up the third meeting of the year Sunday morning between Monmouth and Salem International University.

      A second half surge by fifth seed George Washington on Friday sent the Scots to a 17-6 loss. The Colonials jumped out to a 3-0 first quarter lead, but Monmouth came back on scores by Matt Engebretson and Jake Hall to trail 4-2 at the end of the first period. Two goals by Raheem Brown in the second quarter kept the Scots within range at 7-4 at intermission before the Colonials pulled away in the second half.

      Monmouth suffered a similar fate against Navy Saturday morning, falling behind 4-0 in the opening frame before rallying when Brown scored four of his game-high six goals. The Scots trailed 7-4 entering the second period and cut the deficit to two at 7-5 on another Brown goal. The Midshipmen countered with back-to-back goals and pulled way for a 17-11 final, sending Monmouth into Sunday's ninth place matchup with Salem International.

      Sunday's matchup was the third meeting of the two teams this season – and the first in a neutral pool after each won in their home pools. The Scots fell victim to a slow start, trailing 5-0 before Julius Bradsfield scored his first of a team-high four goals. Trailing 9-4 with 1:54 left in the first half, the Scots got goals from Riley Hess and Ian Salveson to close the gap to 9-6 at the break. A Jon Fitzgerald goal in the first 90 seconds of the second half cut the Scots' deficit to 9-7 before the Tigers scored four unanswered goals to pull away for a 19-11 win over Monmouth, placing the Scots 10^th in the tournament.  

      The loss snapped a streak of three straight weekends when the Scots had won the getaway game.