COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The No. 19-ranked St. Francis College Brooklyn men’s water polo team closed out the Unitd States Air Force Academy’s Rare Air Challenge by topping Westcliff University, 21-8, and Division III No. 6 the University of La Verne, 22-13, to wrap-up a 5-0 weekend.
Facing Westcliff, nine Terriers scored in the win, led by six from Adonis Vlassis and five by Baptiste Oliveri. Aleksa Sisakovic (three) and Paul Armingol (two) also posted multi-goal games, while the quintet of William Simpson, Jovan Parojcic, Paolo Morliere, Valentin Horvath and Rivad Shehadeh each accounted for solo markers.
St. Francis never trailed in the game as the Terriers drew first blood 19 seconds into the contest via a strike by Simpson prior to Westcliff pulling even at one-all courtesy a five-meter penalty shot 17 seconds later. The New York squad, however, pulled away in the first quarter to snag a 5-3 lead through eight minutes of action.
The margin grew to 11-5 by halftime as St. Francis Brooklyn outscored Westcliff 6-2 in the second quarter.
Following a third quarter in which the Terriers expanded their lead to 14-7 with a 3-2 scoring advantage, St. Francis put the contest out of reach over the final eight minutes by outscoring their foe 7-1 for a 21-8 win.
In cage, Manuel Diez made two saves with five goals allowed in the first half, while Nikola Jovanovic notched seven stops with three goals allowed in the final 16 minutes of competition.
St. Francis Brooklyn continued its offensive exploits in a nine-goal victory over La Verne. The Terriers jumped out to leads of 6-4 and 14-6 by the conclusion of the first and second quarters, respectively. The Leopards managed to chip away at their deficit with a 5-3 scoring advantage in the third quarter, but the Terriers unleashed the hounds in the fourth quarter with a 5-2 surge to claim a nine-goal win.
Nine athletes found the back of the cage for St. Francis Brooklyn in the contest led by five from Vlassis and four by Oliveri. Armingol, Sisakovic and Shehadeh notched hat-tricks with three goals with the quartet of Parojcic, Leonidas Athanasoulias, Morliere and Josep Jodra Munoz torquing home single strikes.
Diez played the first half to earn his second win of the day as the junior turned away four shots and allowed six goals in the first half. Banislav Petrovic handled netminding duties over the final 16 minutes by turning away one shot and permitting seven goals.
Information courtesy St. Francis College Brooklyn Athletics Communications
