Water Polo Opens Play In NWPC With Three Games Over The Weekend

THE BASICS:

- Scores:

Game 1 – St. Francis 9, MIT 4
Game 2 – Iona 13, MIT 8
Game 3 – Princeton 13, MIT 7

- Records: MIT (4-6, 0-3 NWPC), St. Francis (6-7, 2-1 NWPC), Iona (6-7, 1-2 NWPC), Princeton (11-6, 4-1 NWPC)

- Location: New York (St. Francis and Iona) and New Jersey (Princeton)

- The Lead: The MIT water polo team opened Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC)  action this weekend with three games on the road, but dropped all three decisions to start league play.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Against St. Francis despite jumping out to the early 2-0 lead, the hosts evened the game at two before the end of the first and outscored MIT 7-2 over the final three quarters to clinch the 9-4 win over the Engineers.

- Against Iona, MIT gained the lead (4-3) prior to the end of the first quarter, but the Gaels went on a 3-2 run midway through the second. MIT could never recover as Iona took the second game of the weekend, 13-8.

- In the final game of the weekend, Princeton led from buzzer to buzzer, but MIT had held the hosts to a one goal differential almost until halftime. The tigers then went on an 8-3 run to seal the game for Princeton, 13-7.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Game One vs. St. Francis

- The Engineers received their goals on two scores from senior Zach Churukian (Menlo Park, Calif.) and one from both freshman Federico Bescotti (Harare, Zimbabwe) and classmate Patroklos Stefanou (Old Greenwich, Conn.), while senior Kelly McGee (Pasadena, Calif.) led the way for MIT with three steals.

- In net, senior Nolan Kruse (Orcutt, Calif.) stopped the ball 17 times and stole the ball once, while freshman Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) made one stop and classmateAnders Khaykin (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) registered a pair of saves for the Engineers.

- MIT won three of the four sprints, which included a pair of wins by McGee and one by sophomore Luka Knezevic (Zagreb, Croatia).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Game Two vs. Iona

- In the second game of the day, junior Kyle Archer (Clovis, Calif.) registered a hat trick - his first multi-goal game of the season, while Churukian and Knezevic each chipped in with a pair of goals.

- Defensively, Churukian and McGee both stole the ball three times and senior Patrick Everett (Ann Arbor, Mich.) notched the lone win in the sprints for MIT. In net, Kruse stopped the ball 12 times, allowed the 13 goals and made one steal.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Game Three vs. Princeton

- MIT sophomore Easton Manson (Honolulu, Hawaii) registered his first goal of the season and six different Engineers, including Manson, found the back of the net against Princeton.

- Sophomore Jeremy Bogle (Weston, Mass.) notched a season-high four steals, while Churukian, Knezevic, sophomore Peter Calvaresi (Malvern, Pa.) and freshman Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.) all tallied a pair of steals.

- In net all three keepers got a chance to play as Kruse made six saves, Khaykin stopped the ball twice and Niederriter made a pair of stops.

UP NEXT:

- MIT plays its first home game of the 2016 season on Saturday, October 8th when the Engineers host NWPC foe Brown University at 10:00 a.m. before heading across town to rival Harvard University for an 8:00 p.m. start.