PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jaxson Tierney (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) scored six times to claim Player of the Game laurels as host/No. 3 seed/No. 19-ranked Brown University eluded No. 5 seed/Division III No. 10 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 13-11, in the Fifth Place game of the 2025 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
Brown (20-9), which claims the program’s 20th victory of the season, improves to 3-0 against the Engineers (8-19) in 2025 as the Bears topped MIT by an 18-12 score in Providence on October 11 and a 14-10 count in Cambridge, Mass., on November 1.
The team’s bronze finish continues a trend of high finishes by Brown at the NWPC Championship as the five-time Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion (1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 2014) and six-time runner-up (1978, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990) previously claimed Second (2016, 2024), Third (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) and Fourth (2018, 2022) at the event leading up to the 2025 tournament.
For MIT – which garners the program’s all-time best finish at a conference championship after previously claiming Fifth (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) and Sixth (2017, 2022) at the NWPC Championship after taking Eighth (2004, 2012), Seventh (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015), Sixth (2003, 2010) and 10th (2014) at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship prior to the creation of the NWPC and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) – took advantage of some early Bears’ defensive struggles to jump out to a lead in the first quarter.
William Ewald (Jr., Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick) and Caspar Lightner (Fr., San Diego, Calif./The Bishop’s School) put the Engineers ahead less than four minutes into the first quarter as the duo deposited strikes at 6:15 and 4:35, respectively, to jump in front 2-0. Tierney lined in a penalty shot at 3:09 to place the Bears on the scoreboard, but Adam Ivatorov (Sr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) responded at 2:52 in returning the Cambridge squad’s lead to a pair at 3-1.
Brown’s Ilias Stothart (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) scored at 2:31 and 28 seconds to sandwich a tally by Andras Beleznay (Jr., Delray Beach, Fla./Saint Andrew’s School) (1:24) as the squads exited the first quarter with MIT holding a 4-3 margin.
The Bears balanced the scoreboard at four-all 79 seconds into the second quarter as Tierney torqued in a penalty shot (6:41) to ignite a back-and-forth scoring spree which left the teams deadlocked at six-all going into halftime.
Jackson Kay (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Menlo School) (5:16) and Derek Schaffer (So., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) (1:02, man-up) accounted for MIT’s scoring in the second quarter, while Tierney (4:22, penalty shot) and Ramzi Megalli (Jr., Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy) (46 seconds) rounded out the Bears’ final first half offense as the lead swayed from 5-4, 5-5, 6-5 and 6-6 with Brown coming back each time to kept the Engineers within striking distance.
Following the commencement of the third quarter/second half, Brown bared its claws as Tierney put away a penalty shot (7:44) and a natural goal (6:46) to provide his team the program’s first lead of the day at 8-6. Lightner (5:24) and Victor Perez (Jr., Key Biscayne, Fla./Ransom Everglades) (3:40) rattled the iron with responses to square the squads at eight-all.
Dominik Balla (So., Szolnok, Hungary/Varga Katalin Gimnazium) put Brown back in front at 9-8 with 2:33 on the clock via a man-up score, but Lightner notched his third strike courtesy a six-on-five conversion with seven ticks remaining until the horn to make it a nine-all game following 24 minutes.
Brown went in front to stay within the first four minutes of the fourth quarter as Stothart (6:07) and Griffin Tunney (Fr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) (4:25) drilled in shots to provide the Bears an 11-9 spread.
MIT’s Rick Lundh (Jr, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) chipped into his team’s deficit to move the Engineers back within a goal (11-10) at 4:04, but Filip Josipovic (Fr., Nijmegen, Netherlands/Liceo Scientifico Ianfranconi) returned the Bears’ lead to a pair (12-10) with 3:35 left in regulation.
Lightner capped off a four-goal day at 3:16 to put MIT on the brink of tying Brown. However, Tierney notched another penalty shot at 1:10 to lock-up the victory.
For Brown, Tierney (six) and Stothart (three) combined for nine goals with Josipovic, Megalli, Tunney and Balla accounting for the remainder of the Bears’ offense.
Lightner (four), Kay, Ivatorov, Perez, Schaffer, Lundh, Beleznay and Ewald combined for MIT’s 11 goals.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Division III No. 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | 11 |
| No. 19 Brown University | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | – | 13 |
| Brown Goals: | Jaxson Tierney (6); Ilias Stothart (3); Filip Josipovic; Ramzi Megalli; Griffin Tunney; Dominik Balla | |||||
| MIT Goals: | Casper Lightner (4); Jackson Kay; Adam Ivatorov; William Ewald; Victor Perez; Derek Schaffer; Rick Lundh; Adras Beleznay | |||||
| Exclusions: | Brown – 9 ; MIT – 14 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Brown – 6-for-14 ; MIT – 2-for-9 | |||||
| Sprints: | Brown – 4-for-4 ; MIT – 0-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Stephanie Villalobos, Alex High | |||||
Brown University’s Ramzi Megalli (#8)
Derek Schaffer (#17) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dishes off a pass as Brown University’s Hugo Molnar (#8) defends
Brown University’s Ilias Stothart (#32)
Brown University’s Jaxson Tierney (#13)
Brown University head coach Felix Mercado congratulates his team following the victory over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
