CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The George Washington University men’s water polo team wrapped up the Harvard Invitational as the Revolutionaries fell to No. 20 Brown University, 13-9, and No. 18 Harvard University, 18-8, while picking up victories over Iona University, 10-6, and the University of California-Merced, 15-7.
GW moves to 9-10 on the season.
On Saturday, October 14, at Brown’s Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center, GW opened the weekend with a four-goal loss to the host Bears.
GW fell behind early and trailed 6-3 at halftime. A five-goal third quarter from Brown gave the Bears a seven-goal cushion heading into the final frame, and although GW’s offense started to figure out the Bears with five goals in the fourth quarter, it was too little, too late as Brown held on to secure the win.
Mateus Stellet paced GW with four goals and added a season-high eight exclusions drawn. Andrija Sekulic contributed with four points to the cause (one goal and three assists), while Leo Lueddemann added two goals.
GW closed out the day by clamping down on defense in the second match of the Harvard Invitational and allowed just one goal in each of the final three quarters, as the Revolutionaries topped Iona.
George Washington never trailed in the game, but it was close throughout as the Revolutionaries did not hold more than a two-goal lead until the fourth quarter. GW led 6-4 at halftime, and the teams matched each other with one goal apiece in the third quarter.
Iona cut the deficit to one with an early fourth-quarter strike, but the Buff and Blue were able to string together three-straight goals to put the Gaels away.
Viktor Jovanovic stuffed the stat sheet with five goals, two assists and two steals. Goalkeeper Luca Castorina shined while allowing a season-low six goals on 20 attempts.
On Sunday, October 15, at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool, the Buff and Blue started out well against the host Crimson, but weren’t able to hold onto its early lead in suffering a 10-goal loss.
After Harvard scored the game’s first goal, GW put three goals on the Crimson and were looking like they had figured out the nation’s No. 18 ranked team. Instead, Harvard responded with a seven-goal streak of its own that lasted into the second quarter.
Harvard led 10-6 at halftime, which GW cut to 10-7 in the third quarter, but that was the closest the Buff and Blue would get, as Harvard had the better of play in the second half and took down GW for the second time this season.
Stellet provided most of the offense in the game with six goals, which is the second-most he has scored in a single game this season – one off his high of seven established against Concordia University Irvine. Jovanovic, while silenced in the goal column, added three assists.
In the Revolutionaries’ weekend finale, George Washington hit the ground running and never looked back against the Bobcats of UC-Merced in an eight-goal victory.
GW left no doubt against UC Merced, leading 4-1 after one quarter and 10-2 at halftime. George Washington held a 4-3 advantage in the third quarter and kept pace with UC Merced in the fourth quarter on its way to the victory.
The offense flowed through Sekulic and Stellet for much of the match. Sekulic had a game-high nine points on five goals and four assists, while Stellet equaled Sekulic’s five goals and added one assist.
Release courtesy George Washington University Athletics Communications
