ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Division III No. 8 MIT water polo team wrapped up the Navy Open with a tough one goal loss to Salem, 15-14, but rebounded to earn a 22-10 win over Connecticut College to wrap up the weekend.
THE BASICS:
- Scores:
- Salem 15, MIT 14
- MIT 22, Conn 10
- Records: MIT (3-5 Overall), Salem (8-5 Overall), Connecticut College (1-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. SALEM:
- Caspar Lightner opened the scoring at 7:23. Salem pulled ahead 3-2 but a goal from William Ewald tied the match at three. The Vikings then scored two straight goals to pull ahead 5-3. Adam Ivatorov got the Engineers back to within one after one quarter of play.
- Salem took an 8-5 lead in the second but a goal from Lightner pulled MIT back to within one at 8-7. Two straight goals made it 10-7 in favor of the Vikings in the third and Salem would take a 12-9 lead into the final quarter.
- The Engineers began a comeback attempt in the final eight minutes. After a Salem goal made it 13-9, goals from Rick Lundh, Lightner and Ivatorov got MIT to within one and Derek Schaffer tied the match at 13 with his score at 4:41. Salem scored the next two goals to take a 15-13 lead and Kunal Rajadhyax added the final score for MIT with 39 seconds left.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Lightner led MIT with five goals. Ivatorov, Rajadhyax, and Schaffer each scored twice.
- In addition to a goal, Ewald led MIT with two assists and three steals.
- Armaan Gill made 10 stops in net for the Engineers.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. CONN:
- MIT raced out to a 5-0 lead before the Camels scored the next two to go into the second quarter trailing by three.
- A goal from Ewald helped jump start an 8-3 second quarter which increased the MIT lead to 13-5 heading into the half.
- Ewald scored again to open the third and back-to-back Ivatorov goals made it a 16-5 MIT advantage. Conn. Attempted to chip away, getting the score to 17-9 going into the fourth.
- The Engineers outscored the Camels 5-1 in the final quarter to secure the 22-10 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Ivatorov scored a game-high six goals. Ewald followed with four while Lightner had three. Overall, eight different players found the back of the net.
- Jackson Kay had four steals for MIT.
- Ewald, Schaffer and Avi Narula all dished out two assists for the Engineers.
- Joshua Woren made seven saves while also collecting a steal and assist.
UP NEXT:
- The Engineers will gear up for a big weekend at Brown University from Saturday, September 20-Sunday, September 21 as they will be competing at the Bruno Invite, which will feature many of the top teams in Division III. They will open play on Saturday against Wheaton at 10:45 AM followed by a 3:45 PM match against Johns Hopkins.
STAY CONNECTED:
