PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The host/No. 3 seed/No. 19-ranked Bears of Brown University never trailed as the home team took care of business in taking down Long Island University, 13-11, in the second/final game on Day One of the 2025 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
Brown (19-9) advances to a 3:00 p.m. Eastern semifinal on Saturday, November 22, against No. 2 seed/No. 18 Harvard University, while Long Island (4-26) will face Iona University at 11:00 a.m. in the Fifth Place game. Iona fell into the Fifth Place game due to a 15-11 loss to Division III No. 10/No. 5 seed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the opening contest of the NWPC Championship.
The Bears – which improve to 14-2 in home games during the 2025 season – built a 4-1 margin by the conclusion of the first quarter before holding 6-4 and 11-6 leads at the conclusion of the second and third quarters, respectively, in topping the Sharks for the third time in 2025. During the regular season, Brown hooked the Sharks 18-9 (October 4 in Brooklyn, N.Y.) and 13-8 (November 9 in Providence).
Jaxson Tierney (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) drew first blood for Brown by cashing in a man-up bid with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter to stake the home team to an early 1-0 scoreboard advantage. Mark Malamud (Fr., Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) leveled the damage at one-all 71 seconds later via a natural marker (4:00), but back-to-back strikes from Griffin Tunney (Fr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) and Filip Josipovic (Fr., Nijmegen, Netherlands/Liceo Scientifico Ianfranconi) at 2:42 and 2:56, respectively, provided the Bears a 3-1 lead. Hugo Molnar (Fr., Szeged, Budapest, Hungary/Radnoti Miklos Experimental) capped off the first quarter scoring by spinning in another tally with 12 ticks left on the clock to build Brown’s margin to 4-1 after eight minutes.
The Sharks attempted to bite back as Malamud (6:26) and Jack French (So., Brisbane, Australia/St. Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace) (3:41) kissed the back of the cage with shots to shrink LIU’s deficit to 4-3 slightly over midway through the second quarter.
Back-to-back man-up conversions by Griffin Tunney (Fr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) (2:36) and Ilias Stothart (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) inflated the lead back to three at 6-3 prior to Malamud completing a first-half hat-trick by cashing in a six-on-five chance with 50 seconds left for a 6-4 contest entering halftime.
The lead swayed between two and three goals for the first two 92 seconds of the third quarter as Dominik Balla (So., Szolnak, Hungary/Varga Katalin Gimnazium) (7:40) and Ramzi Megalli (Jr., Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy) (6:56, man-up) delivered for Brown, while Malamud (7:15) and Logan Morgan (Sr., Camarillo, Calif./Thousand Oaks) (6:28) put away shots for the Sharks to make it an 8-6 game with 6:28 remaining in the frame.
The Bears’ defense stiffened and offense kept firing over the remainder of the third quarter as Josipovic (3:43), Tierney (1:47, man-up) and Molnar (43 seconds) connected on a trio of tallies to stake Brown to an 11-6 lead with eight minutes of regulation remaining in the fourth quarter.
Following another man-up marker by Megalli to double-up Long Island at 12-6 with 5:40 left in the game, the Sharks went on a scoring frenzy in the final five minutes to make the Bears’ uncomfortable down the stretch.
Morgan (5:17) and French (3:58) schooled Brown with back-to-back strikes to shave LIU’s deficit down to 12-8 prior to Balla responding at 3:39 for Brown’s final goal.
Trailing 13-8, Long Island attempted to shorten up the Bears’ lead as Malamud (3:27, penalty shot), Dylan Rothenberg (Fr., Costa Mesa, Calif./Foothill) (1:41) and Lucas Ramirez (Fr., Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) (24 seconds) dented the netting with shots to shrink the Sharks’ final margin of defeat down 13-11 prior to the contest’s concluding horn.
For Brown, Balla, Tunney, Tierney, Josipovic, Molnar and Megalli each scored twice to share Player of the Game laurels, while Stothart stuffed in a solo marker.
Long Island received a game-high five goals from Malamud to go along with pairs by French and Morgan. Ramirez and Rothenberg each chipped in single tallies.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Long Island University | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | – | 11 |
| No. 19 Brown University | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | – | 13 |
| Brown Goals: | Dominik Balla (2); Griffin Tunney (2); Jaxson Tierney (2); Ramzi Megalli (2); Hugo Molnar (2); Filip Josipovic (2); Ilias Stothart | |||||
| LIU Goals: | Mark Malamud (5); Jack French (2); Logan Morgan (2); Lucas Ramirez; Dylan Rothenberg | |||||
| Exclusions: | Brown – 13 ; LIU – 16 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Brown – 6-for-16 ; LIU – 2-for-13 | |||||
| Sprints: | Brown – 3-for-4 (1st, 3rd, 4th) ; LIU – 1-for-4 (2nd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | MV – Dominik Balla (24 seconds left, 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Val Vasilchikov, Stephanie Villalobos | |||||
Long Island University’s Derek Hanel (#9)
Long Island University’s Manuel Diez Teran (#1)
Brown University’s Hugo Molnar (#8)
