BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Long Island University men’s water polo team pulled off a 13-12 upset of Division III No. 4-ranked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fell to No. 17 Brown University, 15-11, in Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) competition.
The Sharks pulled ahead early in the first match at 4-0 before MIT stormed back with three in a row. From there, the newcomers Josep Jodra Muñoz and Riyad Shehadeh made their presence known once again. Jodra Muñoz scored two and Shehadeh added another, giving LIU a lead that the Engineers could not come back from in the remaining time. The duo of Jodra Muñoz and Shehadeh combined for 10 of the 13 Shark goals.
LIU hung in tough against Brown in the second match. The Sharks trailed early, but showed resilency and would not let the Bears pull away. Eventually, number 17 ranked Brown was just too much and LIU fell. Shehadeh added to his goal tally with three and leads the team with 31. Anthony Gauna scored his first collegiate goal in the match.
“I’m happy with how we played today and that the team’s hard work paid off,” said head coach Gabby Juarez. “Coming in and beating MIT is a really big deal for our program since we’re so young. It was really lovely to get that win and the fans were great today. It was just a great environment to be in.”
The story of the day was goalkeeper Ethan Zirh recording his 1,000th career save in the match against Brown.
“A goalie is only as good as his defenders in front of him and I would not have been able to achieve this without my team,” Zirh said. “This is an accomplishment I’ve been working towards for four years and to do it at LIU in the first competitive season with the boys makes it a special moment that I won’t forget. I’m excited to build on our big win today and hopefully make a few more saves along the way.”
Release courtesy Long Island University Athletics Communications
