CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Competing at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool during the Brown University Bruno Classic, the Division III No. 7-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) water polo team earned its first win of 2018 as the Engineers topped Austin College by a 21-8 final. Earlier in the day, MIT dropped a 22-4 decision to No. 5 University of the Pacific to end the weekend at 1-3.
Facing the Top Five ranked Tigers of Pacific in the early game, MIT fell behind 4-1 in the opening stanza thanks to a pair of goals by Luke Pavillard. MIT freshman Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) notched the lone Engineers goal with 1:35 to play.
Geschke accounted for MIT’s lone goal in the second quarter as well as the score stood at 9-2 in favor of the Tigers at the break.
The lead grew larger in the third quarter as Pacific posted eight goals to MIT’s two in extending the margin to 17-4. Geschke added his third marker of the day, while MIT senior Peter Calvaresi (Malvern, Pa.) scored his first goal of the season off a feed by Lucas Novak (Palo Alto, Calif.).
Pacific closed out the game with a 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to establish the 22-4 final score.
MIT goalie Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) made five saves in the first half for the Engineers.
Taking on first-year program Austin, MIT outscored the ‘Roos by a 10-1 count over the first eight minutes of play. The first quarter saw four goals from sophomore Evan Kim (Irvine, Calif.), three from junior Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.) and one from each of Geschke, Kyle Sandell (Mountain View, Calif.) and Pat Stefanou (Old Greenwich, Conn.).
The Engineers added five goals in the second to extend their lead to 15-5 after 16 minutes. MIT sophomore Christian Hwa (Hong Kong) tallied his first collegiate goal just 55-seconds into the stanza.
Following a pair of tallies from Geschke in the third quarter in building the margin to 17-7, Geschke added a five-meter penalty shot and Kevin Shen (Newbury Park, Calif.) dished out a couple of assists in the fourth quarter in acquiring a 21-8 victory.
MIT went three-for-six on the man advantage and two-for-two on five-meter penalty shots against Austin to accompany a 31-28 advantage in shots.
In net, MIT junior Miguel Lamar (Miami, Fla.) played the first 21:58 and made eight saves to pick up the win.
Overall, Geschke registered six goals in the nightcap to bring his total to nine on the day. He now leads the Engineers with 10 so far this season.
Release courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology Athletics Communications
