CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In its final home game of 2017, the Division III No. 3-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology water polo team dropped a 14-6 decision to the visiting No. 19 Terriers of St. Francis College Brooklyn in a Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) match.
St. Francis took an early 1-0 lead just 18 seconds into the contest, but the Engineers came back to tie the game at 1-1 on a goal by Myles Stapelberg (Monarch Beach, Calif.) and at 2-2 on a goal by Luka Knezevic (Zagreb, Croatia) before the Terriers answered to close the first up 4-2. In the second quarter there was only one goal scored by each team – MIT’s came from Kevin Downey (Greenwich, Conn.), while St. Francis’ came via Botond Kadar as the visitors held a 5-3 lead at the break.
The Terriers went on a 3-0 run to start the third before MIT got a goal by freshman Evan Kim (Irvine, Calif.) on a five-meter penalty shot, which cut the deficit back to four at 8-4 midway through the quarter. However, St. Francis scored twice more before the horn sounded to hold a 10-5 lead after 24 minutes in the pool.
Over the final eight minutes of play, St. Francis outscored MIT by a 4-1 margin. The Terriers scored their four goals consecutively over a span of less than four minutes before MIT senior Daniel Yahalomi (New York, N.Y.) closed the scoring for the Engineers with 52-seconds to play.
Stapelberg led the way for MIT with a pair of goals, while Kim, Yahalomi, Downey and sophomore Ward Weldon (Honolulu, Hawaii) all scored once. Defensively, Stapelberg had a pair of blocks and drew a trio of ejections.
In between the pipes, MIT starter Hayden Niederreiter (Visalia, Calif.) made six saves, while Miguel Lamar (Miami, Fla.) stopped the ball once in relief. Additionally, Knezevic and Weldon each won one sprint.
Release courtesy Massachusetts Institute of Technology Athletics Communications
