NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Division III No. 4-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) water polo got off to its best start to a season since 2003 and improved to 5-1 this year after the Engineers picked up wins over host Connecticut College, 18-7, and Penn State Behrend, 18-8, at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Taking on the host Camels, MIT outscored Connecticut, 7-2, in the opening quarter and never looked back en route an 11-goal win.
In the first quarter, Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) registered two goals and two assists, while Christian Schillinger (Orinda, Calif.) added two goals of his own.
Both teams scored three goals in the second quarter as the score stood at 10-5 at halftime. The Engineers broke the game wide open by outscoring Connecticut College, 5-0, in the third quarter fueled by a hat-trick from Pat Stefanou (Old Greenwich, Conn.).
The Camels got two goals back in the fourth quarter, but the Engineers took the win.
Stefanou set a new single game career-high with five goals in the victory, while Geschke notched his fourth hat trick in four games and tied a single game career-high with four assists in the opener. Kevin Downey (Greenwich, Conn.) also notched a single game career-high with a trio of assists against Connecticut.
In his first start in net, Conrad Oakes (Pasadena, Calif.) picked up the win as he made a career-high 15 saves to go along with a career-high three steals.
Facing Penn State Behrend, MIT went on a 7-2 run to open the game over the first 11:28 of the match as Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.) scored three of his five goals in that stretch.
Penn State Behrend was able to cut its deficit to two midway through the third quarter at 10-8 However, MIT scored eight straight goals to overpower the Lions by 10 markers.
Geschke and Huibregtse both scored five goals accounting for ten of MIT’s 18 goals and both added five steals in the nightcap, while Ward Weldon (Honolulu, Hawaii) notched his first hat trick of the season and tallied three assists of his own.
Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) picked up the win in net for the Engineers as he made nine saves over the opening 28:49 of the match.
MIT went four-for-six on the man advantage and outshot Penn State Behrend 41-33 in the win.
Release courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology Athletics Communications
