PRINCETON, N.J./NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The MIT water polo team opened up NWPC play on Saturday as the Engineers played No. 12 Princeton and Iona. The Engineers opened the day with a loss to the Tigers and then dropped a tough high-scoring back-and-forth affair to the Gales.
THE BASICS:
- Scores:
- No. 12 Princeton 20, MIT 10
- Iona 20, MIT 16
- Records: MIT (4-10, 0-2 NWPC), Princeton (14-3, 4-0 NWPC), Iona (3-9, 1-2 NWPC)
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. No. 12 PRINCETON
- Princeton raced out to a 6-2 lead after eight minutes of play with the Engineers getting goals from Andras Beleznay and Rick Lundh. Lundh's goal got MIT to within one goal before the Tigers went on a 3-0 run to end the quarter.
- Neither team found the back of the net for almost four minutes into the second before Derek Schaffer scored to cut the Princeton lead to three at 4:56. The Tigers scored the next three before Adam Ivatorov scored and made it a 9-4 contest. Princeton tacked on one more goal to end the half with a 10-4 lead.
- William Ewald made it an 11-5 match, but the Tigers got the next two to pull ahead by eight. Beleznay scored his second of the game to make it 13-6 but yet again Princeton responded with two more goals. Caspar Lightner got his first goal of the game with 49 seconds left to make it a 15-7 match but Enrique Nuño scored with 20 seconds left to give the Tigers a 16-7 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
- Lundh opened the scoring in the fourth at 7:11, and two more goals from Princeton made it a 10-goal match. Lundh scored twice more in the quarter as the game ended in a 20-10 Princeton win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Lundh led the team with four goals and Beleznay added two. Lundh also led the team with three steals and dished out two assists.
- Schaffer had a team high three assists.
- Joshua Woren made eight saves with two steals while Armaan Gill made three saves.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. IONA:
- The teams started out quick, scoring 11 goals in the game's first quarter. After Iona jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Lightner scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to one. The Gales got a goal at 3:52, however, Lightner and Lundh scored to tie the match at four. A six on five goal for Iona gave the Gales back the lead, but Ivatorov quickly tied the match with his goal at 1:09. He then scored with 17 seconds left to give the Engineers the lead.
- After Iona took an 8-7 lead, Lightner scored three straight goals to send MIT into the break with a 10-8 advantage.
- Ivatorov made it an 11-8 advantage for the Engineers, but Iona began to chip away, scoring six of the next seven goals to take a 14-12 lead. Ivatorov scored to cut the Gales' lead to one, but Iona got it right back on a goal from Pavle Musikic. Ivatorov yet again got MIT back to within one goal but a last second goal from Coby Scanlon gave the hosts a 16-14 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
- A goal from Luka Nastic made it 17-14 and though the Engineers hung around, they could not cut into the Gales lead as the game ended with a 20-16 Iona victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Ivatorov and Lightner led the way with six goals each.
- Lundh, Kunal Rajadhyax, and Schaffer led the way with three assists each.
- Gill made 14 saves in the match.
UP NEXT:
- MIT continues conference play as the team will head to LIU Brooklyn for a 10:00 AM match on Sunday, October 5.
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