CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dominick Hevesi (Fr., Budapest, Hungary/Ferenc Kolcsey) scored five goals to notch Player of the Game accolades as St. Francis College Brooklyn dominated host/Division III No. 5-ranked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the opening game of the 2019 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship at Zesiger Pool.
Via the victory, the Terriers (19-12, 5-5 NWPC) earn a date with undefeated/NWPC regular season champion/No. 9 Harvard University at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 23, in the semifinals. MIT will face the loser of No. 19 Brown University versus Iona College at 1:00 p.m. in the championship tournament’s Fifth Place game.
St. Francis Brooklyn never trailed in the game as the Terriers jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held margins of 4-1, 8-2 and 11-5 at the end of the first, second and third quarters, respectively, to dominate the contest from the opening sprint until the final horn.
For the Terriers, Hevesi led the way with five goals, while Matheus Santos (Sr., Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Avanco) also chipped in a hat-trick with three markers. William Simpson (Fr., Wellington, New Zealand/Saint Kentigern College) and William Lapkin (Sr., Newport Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) both notched pairs with Ricardo Berenguer (Sr., Madrid, Spain/Colegio Nuestra Senora del Recuerdo), Vladimir Mickic (Fr., Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla), Tadeu Rodrigues (Sr., Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Avanco), Nikola Nikolic (Fr., Nis, Serbia/FIrst Nis Grammar School Steven Sremac), Zane Drobenko (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Sage Hill) and Valentin Horvath (So., Budapest, Hungary/Kolping) all notching solo strikes.
In cage, Viktor Klauzer (Sr., Szekesfeervar, Hungary/Vasvari Pal Gimnazium) earned the win with 15 saves over the duration of the contest.
Miller Geschke (So., Los Altos, Calif./Menlo School) keyed the Engineers (10-14, 2-8 NWPC) with three goals. Clyde Huibregtse (Sr., New York, N.Y./Bronx), Kevin Downey (Jr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), Pat Stefanou (Sr., Old Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick School), Kaden DiMarco (So., Eugene, Ore./South Eugene) and John Steele (So., Old Greenwich, Conn./Iona Preparatory) each accounted for solo markers.
Goalie Hayden Niederreiter (Sr., Visalia, Calif./Golden West) stopped eight shots in taking took the loss for MIT.
The Terriers got off the leash quickly in the game as Santos ripped in shots at the 7:06 and 6:12 marks of the first quarter to stake St. Francis Brooklyn to a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest. Rodrigues followed at 3:31 to construct the margin to 3-0, but MIT attempted to demolish what the Terriers engineered as Downey deposited a shot at 3:13 to move his team within a pair at 3-1.
However, St. Francis Brooklyn went back on the attack as Lapkin lined in a man-up opportunity with one minute on the clock to provide the Terriers a 4-1 margin through eight minutes of action.
Simpson inflated the lead to 5-1 56 seconds into the second quarter (7:04), but Huibregtse inched the Engineers back within three at 5-2 by finding the twine at 6:18.
The Terriers dominated the remainder of the first half as Santos (3:59, man-up), Simpson (2:00, even-strength) and Hevesi (1:45, man-up) went back-to-back-to-back in the remaining minutes to widen the difference between the two teams to 8-2 leading into halftime.
MIT came out of the break to strike first as Geschke ripped in a power-play bid at 6:18 to cut into St. Francis Brooklyn’s lead and make it 8-3. However, the Brooklyn squad brawled back as Mickic (5:08, even-strength) and Hevesi (3:27, man-up) delivered for their team to make it 10-3.
Geschke (1:57, even-strength) and Stefanou (39 seconds, man-up) sandwiched a man-up tally by Hevesi (1:29) to wrap-up the third quarter as the teams went into the final eight minutes of play with the Terriers holding an 11-5 lead.
Hevsei struck again 61 seconds into the fourth quarter as he converted a five-meter penalty shot at 6:59 to make it 12-5. Lapkin followed with a natural marker at 5:24 prior to Steele (5:13, even-strength) and DiMarco (4:30, man-up) answering for the MIT to inch within 13-7.
Simpson (2:05) and Geschke (2:42) traded scoring blows to set the scoreboard at 14-8 with under three minutes to play.
St. Francis Brooklyn eliminated any doubts about the eventual outcome over the final 180 seconds as Drobenko (2:15), Horvath (1:34), Nikolic (54 seconds) and Berenguer (32 seconds) went back-to-back-to-back-to-back to account for a four-goal flourish to the final horn and the 18-8 final score.
The game marked the third meeting of the year between the two programs with St. Francis Brooklyn claiming victories in all three following 17-9 and 12-11 (in overtime) wins during the regular season.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| St. Francis College Brooklyn | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | – | 18 |
| Division III No. 5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | – | 8 |
| MIT Goals: | Miller Geschke (3); Clyde Huibregtse; Kevin Downey; Pat Stefanou; Kaden DiMarco; John Steele | |||||
| SFC Goals: | Dominick Hevesi (5); Matheus Santos (3); William Simpson (2); William Lapkin (2); Ricardo Berenguer; Vladimir Mickic; Tadeu Rodrigues; Nikola Nikolic; Zane Drobenko; Valentin Horvath | |||||
| Saves: | MIT – Hayden Niederreiter (8) ; SFC – Viktor Klauzer (15) | |||||
| Exclusions: | MIT – 14 ; SFC – 11 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | MIT – 3-for-11 ; SFC – 6-for-14 | |||||
| Sprints: | MIT – 0-for-4 ; SFC – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | MIT – M (Christian Schillinger, 5:00 left in 1st Q) ; SFC – YC (Head coach Bora Dimitrov, 8:00 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Tony Karaman ; Michael Goldenberg | |||||
St. Francis College Brooklyn’s Boris Posavec (#5) defends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sawyer Koetters (#24)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Miller Geschke (#7) drops off a pass as St. Francis College Brooklyn’s Matheus Santos (#10) pursues
