BALTIMORE, Md. — The Division III No. 7-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) water polo team defeated Division III No. 5/host Johns Hopkins University, 15-12, to claim the Engineers ninth Division III Eastern Championship in program history. At the end of the tournament, Bret Lathrope was named as the Coach of the Tournament, Clyde Huibregtse (New York, N.Y.) garnered Most Valuable Player notice and Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) claimed Goalie of the Tournament laurels.
The first 21:19 of the match, a span of nearly three quarters of the match featured eight ties until the score sat even at 11-11 with 2:41 to play in the third.
MIT junior Pat Stefanou (Old Greenwich, Conn.)scored the go-ahead goal with 29-seconds to play in the third to put the Engineers ahead for good, 12-11.
Classmate Ward Weldon (Honolulu, Hawaii) scored back-to-back goals in the fourth quarter and Stefanou added one more with 2:32 to play to secure the win for the Engineers.
Five Engineers tallied multiple goals in today’s game led by three goals via Huibregtse. Kyle Sandell (Mountain View, Calif.),Kevin Downey (Greenwich, Conn.), Weldon and Stefanou all scored twice.
MIT went five-for-12 on the power play and scored 15 goals on 36 shots.
The title marks the ninth in program history for the Engineers and first since 2016. Previously, MIT won the Division III Eastern Championship in 1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2014.
Information courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology Athletics Communications
