Men's Water Polo | 10/1/2022 10:39:00 PM

THE BASICS:
 
- Scores:
Princeton - 18, MIT - 9
Iona - 15, MIT - 10

- Records: MIT (2-7, 0-2 NWPC), No. 15 Princeton (10-4, 2-0 NWPC), Iona (6-9, 1-1 NWPC)
 
- Location: Princeton, N.J. (DeNunzio Pool) / New Rochelle, N.Y. (Hynes Center Pool)
 
- The Lead: The MIT water polo team fell to No. 15 Princeton and Iona on Saturday afternoon to open up NWPC play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME ONE vs. PRINCETON:

- MIT took a 2-1 lead in the opening quarter with goals from junior Evan Kowal (South Pasadena, Calif.) and first-year Adam Ivatorov (Rockaway, N.Y.). Princeton went on a four-goal run to take a 5-2 lead into the second.
 
- First-year Luke Apostolides (Greenwich, Conn.) made it a two-score game at 6:46, but the Tigers quickly responded to go back up three. Apostolides made it a two-goal game with a goal at 5:34.
 
- Senior Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) got MIT back to within three with a goal at 2:03 to make it a 9-6 match.
 
- The Tigers rattled off nine-straight goals to start the half and put the game out of reach.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Geschke finished the game with a hat trick and added one assist and three steals.
 
- Apostolides and Kowal scored twice, and Ivatorov and first-year Kush Khamesra (Portland, Ore.) found the back of the net.
 
- Junior Colin Weaver (Huntington Beach, Calif.) made 13 stops in goal and recorded three steals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME TWO vs. IONA:

- Geschke opened the scoring with a goal at 6:39, but Iona scored the next four to pull ahead 4-1.
 
- Sophomore Richard Yun (Irvine, Calif.) stopped the Gales run with a goal with 15 seconds remaining in the first to kick-start an Engineers run that saw goals from Kowal and the tying score from sophomore Jack King (Los Altos, Calif.).
 
- Iona scored four of the next five goals to take an 8-5 lead into the half.
 
- The Gales slowly built a 12-6 lead in the third, but goals from first-year Vik Neni (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Ivatorov cut the Iona lead to four.
 
- Geschke ended a 3-0 Iona run to make the score 15-9 with 2:25 left, and Khamesra found the back of the net with two seconds remaining to conclude the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Geschke, Ivatorov, and Neni all finished with two goals in the game.
 
- Kowal led the Engineers with three assists, and Apostolides and King each recorded a team-high three steals in the match.
 
- Weaver made eight saves in the game, and senior Conrad Oakes (Pasadena, Calif.) made three.

UP NEXT:

- The Engineers are back in the pool tomorrow morning for an 11 a.m. contest against No. 19 St. Francis College Brooklyn.
 
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