THE BASICS:
 
- Scores: No. 8 MIT – 8, Salem University - 13
No. 8 MIT - 11, Mount St. Mary's - 9
 
- Records: MIT (4-9), Salem University (8-9), Mount St. Mary's (5-11)
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Blodgett Pool)
 
- The Lead: The eighth-ranked MIT men's water polo team split its matches at the Harvard Invitational on Saturday as the Engineers suffered an early loss to Salem University but rebounded to defeat Mount St. Mary's later in the afternoon.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME ONE vs. Salem
 
- Salem pulled out to a 3-0 lead before first-year Jack King (Los Altos, Calif.) sent a pass to senior Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) who rifles a throw into the back of the net at 6:36 to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1.
 
- Salem then scored the next three goals to pull ahead 6-1, but back-to-back goals from senior John Steele (old Greenwich, Conn.) and first-year Richard Yun (Irvine, Calif.) got the Engineers back to within three.
 
- Back-to-back Tigers goals gave them an 8-3 advantage but senior Kyle Sandell (Mountain View, Calif.) closed the third quarter with a goal to cut the Engineers' deficit to four.
 
- The fourth quarter saw nine goals between the two teams with MIT starting to comeback in the match. Sandell scored off a pass from Yun at 5:59 to bring the Engineers to within three, but Salem rattled off three-straight goals to take a 11-5.
 
- Sophomore Evan Kowal (South Pasadena, Calif.) and Steele scored to make it a 11-7 game at 2:12, but Salem got another goal shortly after to make it 12-7.
 
- Sandell got another goal with 58 seconds remaining and the Tigers added their 13^th goal with 36 seconds left to seal the win.
 

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME TWO vs. Mount St. Mary's (Md.)
 
- The Engineers struck quickly in the first quarter with goals from Sandell and Geschke, but The Mount responded with a goal of their own to make it a 2-1 match.
 
-Kowal added to the MIT lead with a goal of his own at 3:13, but Mount St. Mary's scored the next two goals to tie the game. With 42 seconds remaining in the first, Steele found the back of the net to give MIT a one goal lead heading into the second.
 
- The Mount outscored the Engineers 2-1 in the second to tie the match at five going into the third where at 5:52 they took their first lead of the day.
 
- MIT responded with goals from Yun and Sandell to take a 7-6 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
 
- The Engineers came out in the fourth with three straight goals from Sandell, and Geschke to take a 10-6 lead and after a Mount goal made it 10-7, Geschke responded with another score to put MIT up 11-8.
 
- The Mount got a goal with two seconds remaining, but it was not enough as the Engineers held on for the 11-9 win.
 
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Geschke tallied five goals during the two matches to bring his team lead to 36 goals on the season while Sandell added six to bring his season total to 29.
 
 
UP NEXT:
 
- The Engineers are right back at it tomorrow for day two of the Harvard Invitational. MIT will kick off the second day with a 9:15 a.m. contest against Wagner followed by Gannon at 2:15.
 
 
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