PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Caspar Lightner (Fr., San Diego, Calif./The Bishop’s School) scored four times, including a trio in the second half, to notch Player of the Game recognition as Division III No. 10-ranked/No. 5 seed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) outscored No. 6 seed Iona University by a 12-6 count in the second half to get by the Gaels, 15-11, in the opening game of the 2025 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship at Brown University’s Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
The victory advances the Engineers (8-18) into a semifinal showdown versus No. 14/No. 1 seed Princeton University at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, November 22. The loss puts Iona (8-17) into the Fifth Place game at 11:00 a.m. versus the loser of an opening day clash pitting the host/No. 19/No. 3 seed Brown University Bears and No. 6 seed Long Island University.
For MIT, the victory is historic as the team reaches a conference semifinal round for the first time in school history and locks up no worse than a Fourth Place finish in the 2025 NWPC Championship’s final standings. The Engineers previously placed Fifth (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) and Sixth (2017, 2022) at the NWPC Championship after claiming Eighth (2004, 2012), Seventh (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015), Sixth (2003, 2010) and 10th (2014) at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship prior to the creation of the NWPC and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC).
Trailing 5-3 at halftime, MIT began to chip away at its deficit as Rick Lundh (Jr., Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) swished a shot with 7:32 left in the third quarter to move the Engineers within one at 5-4. Pavle Musikic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/Sportska Gimnazija) answered for the Gaels (6:30), but Lightner (4:40) and William Ewald (Jr., Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick) (3:53) erased Iona’s margin with back-to-back strikes to square the squads at six-all.
Rastko Jevdjovic (Sr., Belgrade, Serbia/Third Belgrade Grammar School) pushed the Gaels back in front at 3:31, but the Engineers owned the majority of the frame’s remaining time as Lundh buried a five-meter penalty shot (3:21), while Adam Ivatorov (Sr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) (2:19) and Lightner (1:33) torqued in natural tallies to put MIT ahead to stay at 9-7. Musikic shank the Gaels’ deficit to a single goal prior to the end of the third quarter as he cashed in a six-on-five bid at 1:07 to close within 9-8 heading into the decisive fourth quarter.
Lightner (7:35, penalty shot), Jackson Kay (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Menlo School) (6:02), Derek Schaffer (So., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) (5:04, man-up) and Ivatorov (3:30) answered the bell for the Engineers as the quartet delivered in the first three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter to pad MIT’s lead to 13-8.
Jayden Arana (Jr., Freeport, Texas/Brazoswood) snapped MIT’s run by burying a shot with 3:30 left in regulation to move the Gaels back to within four at 13-9, but Kunal Rajadhyax (Jr., Vernon Hills, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) (2:58, man-up) and Ivatorov (2:11, penalty shot) put the game out of Iona’s reach with a pair of scores to widen the gap to 15-9.
Arana (1:16) and Matthew Mischlich (Sr., Houston, Texas/Strake Jesuit) (10 seconds) sliced the Gaels’ final deficit down to four goals prior to the concluding horn as the duo delivered balls into the twine in the final 76 seconds to make it 15-11 at the buzzer.
The second half was the antithesis of the first half as Iona never trailed in holding the Engineers in check for the 16-minute span of the first and second quarters.
Mischlich opened the game’s scoring by swishing a man-up opportunity with 6:48 left in the first quarter before Musikic built the Gaels’ lead to 2-0 with 4:08 on the clock. Lightner (3:47) and Hugh Coyle (So., Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) (3:33) exchanged successful heaves to make the contest 3-1 in favor of Iona after eight minutes.
Lundh (5:42, man-up), Mischlich (2:55) and Andras Beleznay (Jr., Delray Beach, Fla./Saint Andrew’s School) (1:59) went back-and-forth in the second quarter to make the score 3-2, 4-2 and 4-3 prior to Coyle connecting on a first half concluding strike with 1:30 left to set the halftime scoreboard at 5-3 and set the stage for the Engineers’ surge to victory.
For Iona – which has previously claimed Fourth (2023, 2024), Fifth (2016, 2017, 2021, 2022) and Sixth (2018, 2019) at the NWPC Championship – Musikic and Mischlich managed hat-tricks (three goals), while Coyle and Arana contributed pairs to accompany a single score by Jevdjovic.
Lightner (four), Lundh (three) and Ivatorov (three) combined for 10 of MIT’s 15 goals with Kay, Beleznay, Schaffer, Ewald and Rajadhyax accounting for the remainder.
The game is the season rubber match between Iona and MIT as the Gaels tripped up the Engineers by a count of 20-16 at home in New Rochelle, N.Y., on October 4 before the Cambridge, Mass., squad stopped the New Yorkers 16-14 in the immediate Boston suburbs on November 8.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Division III No. 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | – | 15 |
| Iona University | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | 11 |
| Iona Goals: | Pavle Musikic (3); Matthew Mischlich (3); Hugh Coyle (2); Jayden Arana (2); Rastko Jevdjovic | |||||
| MIT Goals: | Caspar Lightner (4); Rick Lundh (3); Adam Ivatorov (3); Jackson Kay; Andras Beleznay; Derek Schaffer; William Ewald; Kunal Rajadhyax | |||||
| Exclusions: | Iona – 12 ; MIT – 7 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Iona – 2-for-7 ; MIT – 6-for-12 | |||||
| Sprints: | Iona – 1-for-2 (1st, 2nd) ; MIT – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Alex Stankevitch, Alex High | |||||
Iona University’s Rastko Jevdjovic (#23) & the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kush Khamesra (#6)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Derek Schaffer (#17) attempts to get a pass off as Iona University’s Jayden Arana (#2) closes in
