PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The MIT water polo team held off a late fourth-quarter rally from Johns Hopkins to hold onto a 14-12 win to open the day but later fell to Division I No. 19 Brown, 18-8.
 
THE BASICS:

• Scores: MIT 14, Johns Hopkins 12; Brown 18, MIT 8
• Records: MIT (3-6), Johns Hopkins (5-7), Brown (5-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. JOHNS HOPKINS

• MIT jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals from juniors Adam Ivatorov (Rockaway, N.Y.) and Kush Khamesra (Portland, Ore.), and sophomore William Ewald (Greenwich, Conn.). After a JHU score, sophomore Kunal Rajadhyax (Vernon Hills, Ill.) converted on his penalty shot chance to give the Engineers a 4-1 lead after one.
• Hopkins cut the lead to two with a goal from Phillip Long (Cupertino, Calif.), but MIT scored the next four goals, including two more from Rajadhyax to take a 9-3 lead into the break.
• Sophomore Rick Lundh (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) opened the scoring in the third to make it a 10-3 MIT lead but a goal from Owen Bartlett (Newport Beach, Calif.) stopped the Engineers scoring run. Dado Soares (Riverside, Conn.) cut the Engineer lead to six heading into the fourth quarter.
• The Jays rallied scoring six goals in the final eight minutes. Alec Baker (Redondo Beach, Calif.) got the Blue Jays to within two at 13-11, but Ivatorov scored to make it 14-11 as MIT held on for the win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Ivatorov led MIT with four goals while Rajadhyax added three goals and a team-high three assists. Khamesra, Lundh, and sophomore Jackson Kay (Palo Alto, Calif.) all finished with two goals.
• Sophomore Kieran Kearns (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) led the way with three steals.
• First year Armaan Gill (Long Grove, Ill.) turned away 14 shots in goal.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. BROWN

• Brown took a 5-1 lead after one with Ivatorov scoring the lone goal for MIT.
• Lundh and Ivatorov cut the Bears' lead to 5-3 in the second, but Brown scored the final two goals of the quarter to take a 7-3 lead.
• Ewald scored to open the third, but Brown went on a 5-0 run to go up 12-4. Kay stopped the Brown run and Ivatorov added another goal to make it a 12-6 match.
• Brown scored four straight to pull ahead 16-6 before a penalty shot goal from Lundh made it a 17-7 contest. First year Avi Narula (Atlanta, Ga.) scored the final goal of the day for the Engineers.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Ivatorov finished with three goals while Lundh added two. Ivatorov leads the team with 35 goals this season.
• Gill made four saves in cage.
• Kearns grabbed three more steals to bring his season total to 19.

UP NEXT:

• The Engineers will open up NWPC play next weekend when they travel to New Jersey to take on Princeton on Saturday, October 5 at 5:00 PM.  

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