CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Division III No. 2-ranked/host/top seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology men’s water polo team reached the title game of the 2017 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship tournament by registering wins over Monmouth College, 20-1, and Penn State Behrend, 12-3.
The Engineers will meet Division III No. 3/second seed Johns Hopkins University at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, in the CWPA Division III title game. An eight-time champion (1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016) will seek to defend its crown after downing Washington & Jefferson College by a 17-8 score on October 23 at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pa., in the 2016 title tilt.
In the day’s opening game, MIT went up 9-0 over the opening 12 minutes of the game before Monmouths Kurt Holzer broke into the scoring column for the Fighting Scots with 1:37 to play in the second quarter. Over the stretch, MIT freshman Kevin Downey (Greenwich, Conn.) notched a trio of goals, while classmates Christian Schillinger (Orinda, Calif.) and Myles Stapleberg (Monarch Beach, Calif.) both registered a pair of goals.
After Monmouth scored its lone goal of the game, MIT outscored the Fighting Scots by an 11-0 margin over the final 17:37 of the first contest of the day. MIT sophomore Ward Weldon (Honolulu, Hawaii) registered a hat trick over that span in addition to seven other Engineers finding the back of the net to secure the 20-1 game one win.
Weldon and Downey both registered four goals apiece, while Schillinger added a hat trick and Stapleberg added a pair of goals to the Engineers efforts. Additionally, junior Luka Knezevic (Zagreb, Croatia), sophomore Ben Teitscheid (Newport Beach, Calif.) and senior Dan Yahalomi (New York, N.Y.) all dished out three assists to lead the team.
Defensively, MIT keeper Miguel Lamar (Miami, Fla.) stopped the ball eight times and allowed just one goal in the effort, while freshman Chris Womack (Redlands, Calif.) stole the ball three times. Knezevic and classmate Peter Calvaresi (Malvern, Pa.) both added a pair of steals in game one for MIT. Sophomore Pat Stefanou (Old Greenwich, Conn.) rounded out the highlights for the Engineers as he drew a pair of ejections this morning.
Facing Penn State Behrend of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), MIT went up 5-0 before the Lions scored thanks to two goals by Schillinger, one by Knezevic, one by Downey and one by Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.).
The Lions netted back-to-back goals with 42-seconds to play in the half before MIT closed the game on a 7-1 run to take it by a 12-3 final. Over that final stretch to put the game out of reach, the Engineers had six different goal scorers. That included two goals from Knezevic and one each by the following: Evan Kim (Irvine, Calif.), Stapleberg, Yahalomi, Weldon and Huibregtse.
Knezevic registered a hat trick for the Engineers on five shots against Penn State Behrend, while Schillinger, Knezevic, Womack and Calvaresi each dished out single assists.
Defensively, Lamar, who got the start in net for MIT made three saves and stole the ball once, while sophomore Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) stopped the ball four times and registered one steal in relief for the Engineers. The team as a whole put together 13 steals and four drawn ejections to push them into the championship game tomorrow against Johns Hopkins.
The Engineers and Blue Jays have combined combined for 24 of the 26 CWPA Division III Championship titles since the tournament began back in 1991. In the history of the event, the 2017 clash will mark the 19th time MIT and Johns Hopkins have met for the crown with the Engineers (1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2014) holding six wins to the Blue Jays (1994, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015) 12 victories.
Information courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology
