CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Division III No. 5-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) water polo team used six goals in the second half to defeat Iona College, 11-7, before falling to St. Francis College Brooklyn, 10-7, in the nightcap in Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) action.
Against Iona, the opening 20:33 minutes of action saw the scored tied five times with the last one coming at 7-7 with 3:27 to play in the third quarter.
From that point on, MIT scored four straight goals to close the match ahead 11-7. Over the final stretch, the Engineers received two goals from Christian Schillinger (Orinda, Calif.), one from Kevin Downey (Greenwich, Conn.) and one from Ward Weldon (Honolulu, Hawaii).
Schillinger and freshman Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) ended the opening game with four goals apiece.
MIT keeper Hayden Niederriter (Visalia, Calif.) made 14 saves for the Engineers in the complete game effort.
MIT went two-for-three on the man advantage and added a pair of five-meter penalty goals. Iona held a slim 32-29 margin in shots and went 6-for-11 on the man advantage.
In the late game against St. Francis Brooklyn, Evan Kim (Irvine, Calif.) scored the game’s opening goal for MIT, but the Terriers went on a 6-0 run that stretched through the first 3:15 of the second quarter.
The Engineers climbed back into the match midway through the third and cut the deficit to three at 7-4 after Geschke registered his second goal of the contest.
Both teams traded goals down the stretch as St. Francis defeated MIT, 10-7.
Geschke and Kim both tallied three goals apiece for the Engineers, while Niederreiter led the way for MIT with three steals.
Niederreriter stopped the ball ten times in net for the Engineers.
The Engineers won all four sprints in the nightcap as Weldon won twice, Kim won once and Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.) won one as well.
MIT outshot St. Francis, 31-29, went one-for-two on the man advantage and added one five-meter penalty shot.
Release courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology Athletics Communications
