Iona University Takes Fifth Place by Downing Division III No. 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 11-7, at 2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship

Iona University-vs.-Division III No. 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Scoresheet (2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship – Game #8)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Goalie Kyle Laufenberg (Sr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) stood tall in turning back eight scoring tries by Division III No. 10-ranked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to key Iona University in an 11-7 defeat of the Engineers for Fifth Place at the 2022 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship hosted by Brown University.

Iona (11-19, 4-8 NWPC) claims Fifth Place by going 2-0 against Connecticut College (21-9 W on Saturday, November 19) and MIT in a round-robin to determine places Fifth to Seventh in the final seven-team championship standings.  MIT (6-20, 1-10 NWPC) takes Sixth Place as the Engineers claimed a 17-9 defeat of Connecticut College on November 19.

The Gaels – who previously placed Fifth (2016, 2017, 2021) and Sixth (2018, 2019) at the NWPC Championship – met MIT for the sixth time in both teams’ final game at the event as Iona defeated the Engineers 9-8 in sudden death overtime in the 2016 Fifth Place game, claimed a 10-9 overtime win in the 2017 Fifth Place game, slipped 8-7 in the 2018 Fifth Place game, dropped a 16-6 contest in the 2019 Fifth Place game and outsmarted MIT 11-7 in 2021 for Fifth Place.

Iona never trailed in the game as the Gaels opened up a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest as Andrew Miller (Jr., Richmond, Texas/Foster) and Mohamed Refaat (Sr., Mailtina, Fla./Winter Park) dented the twine at 6:47 and 6:09, respectively, in the first quarter.

Jack King (So., Los Altos, Calif./Menlo School) put MIT on the scoreboard  at 5:10, but Miller (4:02) and Luksa Vlasic (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) (2:06, man-up) answered to build Iona’s lead to 4-1. 

The Engineers chipped away at their deficit over the remainder of the frame as Evan Kowal (Jr., South Pasadena, Calif./South Pasadena) lined in a penalty shot (1:09) and Adam Ivatorov (Fr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) converted a man-up chance (41 seconds) to move MIT to within 4-3 after eight minutes.

Iona responded with their own run in the first five minutes of the second quarter as Justin Ginsberg (Gr., Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) (7:23, man-up; 3:03, man-up) and Refaat (3:40, penalty shot) combined to construct the Gaels’ margin to 7-3.  MIT chopped one score off its deficit prior to the halftime horn as Miller Geschke (Sr., Los Altos, Calif./Menlo School) slipped in a shot at 1:01 to establish a 7-4 Iona lead through 16 minutes of action.

Vik Neni (Fr., Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach) trimmed Iona’s lead further by stuffing in a chance at 5:28 of the third quarter, but James DiSalle (Jr., Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales) netted the Gaels’ eighth strike at 4:42 to return a three goal lead to his team at 8-5.

MIT appeared poised to make a run in the closing minutes of the third quarter and the opening of the fourth quarter as Ivatorov banged a man-up opportunity into the cage with 1:05 left on the clock to make it 8-6 heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.

Ginsberg snapped the Engineers’ attempted run by converting a six-on-five chance 43 seconds into the fourth quarter (7:17) to expand Iona’s lead back to three at 9-6.  Kowal delivered an offensive retort at 6:20 to again move MIT within a pair at 9-7, but the luck of the Irish reigned down the stretch with Refaat (3:34) and Trippe Baumann (Jr., Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) (1:44) tacking on insurance markers to establish the 11-7 final score.

Refaat (three), Ginsberg (three) and Miller (two) each posted a multi-goal game for the Gaels with Baumann, Vlasic and DiSalle depositing single tallies.  

For MIT – which has now placed Fifth (2018, 2019) and Sixth (2016, 2017, 2021, 2022) at the NWPC Championship –  Kowal and Ivatorov led the team with pairs of goals.  Neni, Geschke and King each tacked on solo strikes in support of an eight save effort by netminder Colin Weaver (Jr., Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei).

Although the Iona season comes to a close, the Engineers are guaranteed to play two more as the 2022 Division III Eastern Championship runner-up will join Division III Eastern Champion/Division III No. 8 Johns Hopkins University of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference in battling the top two teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCAIC) on December 3-4 at the USA Division III Collegiate Water Polo National Championship.

Due to both Johns Hopkins and MIT being unable to host, the championship will occur in California for a third consecutive event as the champion and runner-up from the SCIAC qualify with the highest finisher earning the privilege to host.

Hosting rights have been critical to winning the event as Whittier College hosted the inaugural/2019 championship and defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 5-3, to claim the National Championship.  MIT finished in Third Place courtesy a 20-13 victory over Johns Hopkins.

Following the 2020 event being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the championship returned in 2021 with host Pomona-Pitzer Colleges topping Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 13-12, for the second USA Water Polo Division III Championship.  Johns Hopkins avenged its 2019 defeat to MIT by clipping the Engineers, 11-10, to take Third Place.