THE BASICS:
 
- Scores:
Iona - 13, MIT - 11
No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn - 20, MIT - 10
 
- Records: MIT (6-16, 1-9 NWPC), Iona (9-15, 2-6 NWPC), St. Francis Brooklyn (17-9, 5-4 NWPC)

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Zesiger Center Pool)

- The Lead: Two late rallies fell short as the MIT water polo team fell to NWPC foes Iona and No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. IONA
 
- The Gales opened the match on a 3-0 run before a goal from senior Miller Geschke (Los Altos, Calif.) at 1:21. The Engineers made it a one-goal game with 16 seconds remaining when sophomore Jack King (Los Altos, Calif.) sent a pass to junior Evan Kowal (South Pasadena, Calif.) who buried the shot to make it a 3-2 game.
 
- Iona scored the first four goals of the second quarter to take a 7-2 lead.  First-year Adam Ivatorov (Rockaway, N.Y.) got a pass from Geschke at 4:13 and put the shot past the Gales' keeper to end the Iona scoring run. The Gales got a goal at 3:45 to back up five, but goals from first-year Kush Khamesra (Portland, Ore.) and Kowal got the Engineers to within three.
 
- A goal at 6:23 gave Iona a 9-5 lead, however, a 3-1 run from MIT featuring goals from Ivatorov and two from Kowal cut the Gales' lead to 10-8. Iona scored with 50 seconds remaining in the third to go back up four, but a goal from Ivatorov with 32 seconds left sent MIT into the final quarter trailing 11-9.
 
- After an Iona goal made it a 12-9 contest, Ivatorov scored his fourth of the game to get MIT back to within two scores with 3:58 left. Iona made it a three-goal contest at 2:40, but first-year Vik Neni (Laguna Beach, Calif.) scored his first of the match at 2:40. The Engineers had chances at the end, but were unable to complete the come-back.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Ivatorov finished with four goals and a steal and has now scored at least three goals in sixth-straight games. Kowal also added four goals and a steal in the contest.
 
- Geschke finished with a goal, three steals, and a team-high four assists.
 
- First-year Luke Apostolides (Greenwich, Conn.) and King each had three steals in the match.
 
- Senior Conrad Oakes (Pasadena, Calif.) made 11 saves in the match with one steal.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
 
- St. Francis took a 1-0 lead at 6:15, but Geschke tied it up with a score at 6:15. The Terries responded with a goal at 5:25 but Kowal tied it back up off an Apostolides pass at 5:01.
 
- SFB scored the next two goals to go up 4-2 heading into the second where Ivatorov scored at 4:07 to get MIT back to within one. St. Francis then went on a 4-0 run before a goal by sophomore Alex Freedline (Miami, Fla.) with 24 seconds left in the half stopped the run and sent MIT into the break trailing by four.
 
- The Terriers outscored MIT 8-4 to take a 16-8 lead after three. MIT got goals from Freedline, Geschke, Kowal, and sophomore Richard Yun (Irvine, Calif.) in the frame.
 
- After two goals from the visitors made it an 18-8 match, Neni scored to make it a nine-goal game. Kowal followed with his third of the game, but the Terriers scored two more goals to take the 20-10 win.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
 
- Kowal led the way with three goals for his 11th hat trick of the year. He also added an assist, steal and ejection earned.
 
- Freedline finished with two scores and a steal while Apostolides contributed two assists.
 
- Geschke finished with two goals, one assist, and five steals. For the season, he now has 77 steals, one shy of his program-record mark, and 58 goals. For his career, he sits second with 276 goals, 41 short of the program record, and also ranks second with 220 career steals, five shy of the team record.  
 
- Oakes finished with five saves and three steals.

UP NEXT:

- The Engineers return to the pool tomorrow for a 2:00 p.m. contest against No. 8 Princeton at the Zesiger Center Pool.
 
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