Water Polo Earns Win Over UC Merced, Falls Late to Biola

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT water polo team split its Saturday matches at Blodgett Pool on the campus of Harvard. In the first game of the day against Biola, MIT erased a four-goal deficit to pull even but eventually fell 11-10 on a last second goal. In game two, the Engineers used two late goals from Caspar Lightner to earn a 9-7 win.

THE BASICS:

Scores:
- Biola 11, MIT 10
- MIT 9, UC Merced 7
Records: MIT (6-12 Overall), Biola (9-13 Overall), UC Merced (1-11 Overall)

HOW IT HAPPENED vs. BIOLA:

Lightner and Jake Schweizer sandwiched a Biola goal to give MIT a 2-1 advantage. The Eagles then scored the final two goals of the quarter to take a 4-2 lead.
Biola extended its lead to 7-3 after the second with Nicholas Soule scoring the lone Engineer goal in the quarter.
Lightner opened the third with back-to-back goals to get MIT to within two. Biola then scored on the counter to head into the final stanza with an 8-5 lead.
The comeback was on for the Engineers as they scored four-straight to open the fourth and tie the match. After Andras Beleznay scored a 6 on 5 goal, Rick Lundh scored the next two to make it an 8-8 match with 4:33 left. Kunal Rajadhyax then buried the go-ahead goal 3:24 left.
Biola quickly responded with two consecutive goals, but with 21 seconds left, William Ewald knocked in the game-tying goal. Isaac Demski then found the back of the net with three seconds left.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Lightner notched his eighth hattrick of the season.
Kieran Kearns led the way with three assists.
Schweizer finished with a goal, two assists, and a team-high four steals.
Armaan Gill made six saves and had three steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED vs. UC MERCED:

The Bobcats scored three of the first four goals of the match, with Schweizer notching the lone MIT goal. MIT then went on a 3-0 run to end the quarter, getting two goals from Beleznay and another from Lundh with nine seconds left to give them a one-goal lead after one.
After Merced tied the match at four, back-to-back goals from Beleznay and Ewald gave the Engineers a 6-4 lead going into the half.
It was a low scoring third with Armeet Gill scoring the lone goal at 6:13 to increase the MIT lead to three.
A 3-0 run to open the fourth by Merced tied the match with a goal from Noah Defaii tying the match at 3:56. Lightner then scored the next two goals to secure the win for MIT.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Beleznay got his eighth hat trick of the season and is now second on the team with 39 goals. Lightner leads the way with 40.
Schweitzer collected four steals to give him a team-leading 30.
Joshua Woren made 11 saves.

UP NEXT:

MIT is back in action tomorrow, Sunday, October 18 as they will play Connecticut College at 8:30 PM followed by a 2:30 PM contest against DIII No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer. Both matches will be played at Harvard.

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