PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University men’s water polo earned a 16-8 win over fellow Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) institution/Division III No. 5-ranked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and dropped a 14-10 game to the United States Air Force Academy at home in the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
Connor Enright led all scorers in the two games for Brown with five goals.
“I’m proud of the guys overcoming some mistakes but we fell short against Air Force,” said head coach Felix Mercado. “We will learn and be better for the start of conference play.”
In game one, a big third quarter helped Brown beat MIT in non-league action to start the day. The Bears scored seven goals in the third quarter to turn a 6-4 halftime lead to a 13-6 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Filip Aleksic and Enright both notched hat tricks in the win over the Engineers.
Brown took an early 2-0 lead with goals from Cole Atwell and Matt Simko. Enright scored the third goal in the quarter which wrapped up with the teams deadlocked at three-all.
After MIT scored the first goal of the second quarter to acquire a 4-3 lead, Enright tallied back-to-back strikes to provide the Bears a lead they would never give up.
Within the first three minutes of the third quarter, Nick Berry, Leo Berkman and Aleksic added goals. After an MIT score, Andrew Penner, Thomas Hoffmeister and Stephen Salle responded with tallies of their own. Max Boucher added a goal to end quarter for his team’s seventh of the frame.
Aleksic, Penner and Evan Moore all added markers in the fourth quarter as Brown broke a three-game losing streak.
To close out the night in the pool, Brown fell to Air Force by a score of 14-10. Atwell added three goals for the Bears and Berkman and Enright each added two tallies.
The Falcons led the game 2-1 after the first quarter and pushed the margin to 5-2. Enright broke the scoring run for Air Force with a goal. Down 7-3, Enright and Ben Kirshon scored with under a minute left in the first half to pull the Bears back to within two at 7-5 heading into halftime.
Both teams added four goals in the third quarter with Atwell scoring two and Berkman and Aleksic each adding one.
Berkman scored early in the fourth to make the score 11-10 in favor of Air Force, but the Bears were held scoreless the rest of the way. The Falcons padded the final margin with three scores in the waning minutes of the contest for a 14-10 victory.
Information courtesy Brown University Athletics Communications
