Brown University
St. Francis (N.Y.)
No. 4 Seed Men's Water Polo Bests No. 2 St. Francis, 11-9, for Third at NWPCs
11/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior Tommy Bush and junior Travis Bouscaren each scored three goals as No. 4 seed Brown men's water polo surged past No. 2 seed St. Francis Brooklyn, 11-9, in the third-place game of the 2017 NWPC Championship on Sunday morning at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.
Trailing 8-5 early in the third quarter, the No. 14 ranked Bears (21-12) scored six unanswered goals to gain an 11-8 lead and upend the No. 18 ranked Terriers (13-14) for third place at the conference tournament.
Bush (Lafayette, Calif.) and Bouscaren (Cambridge, Mass.) led the Bears with their hat tricks while Bush added an assist. Senior Rico Burke (San Mateo, Calif.) posted a goal and two assists, and classmate Tyler Kirchberg (Orinda, Calif.) tallied a goal and an assist.
Senior Austin Hwang (Laguna Hills, Calif.), sophomore Hudson Rawlings (Murrieta, Calif.), and freshman Adam Fuller (Santa Barbara, Calif.) netted one goal apiece.
Freshman goalkeeper Riad Hallal (Coronado, Calif.) allowed just three goals after the first quarter and finished the game with eight saves.
With 21 wins on the season, Brown posted its eighth straight 20-win campaign. The Bears have recorded nine 20-win seasons during the 11-year tenure of head coach Felix Mercado.
Burke and Bush both earned Second Team NWPC All-Tournament accolades.
After two St. Francis goals to open the game, Burke put the Bears on the scoreboard to make it 2-1. Despite a goal from Fuller, St. Francis followed with a 4-1 run to pull ahead 6-2 late in the first quarter. A 6-on-4 goal from Bush brought Brown within 6-3 at the end of the first stanza.
Bush started the second quarter's scoring prior to a marker from St. Francis. A goal from Bouscaren off a feed from Burke with 1:15 left in the half cut Brown's deficit to 7-5 heading into halftime.
Following a St. Francis goal to open the third quarter, Brown rattled off six unanswered goals to turn an 8-5 deficit into an 11-8 advantage. Brown pulled ahead 9-8 late in the third quarter behind goals from Hwang and Rawlings and back-to-back tallies from Bouscaren.
Kirchberg and Bush scored consecutive goals to open the fourth quarter, and the Bears did not allow the Terriers to convert in the frame until the 1:11 mark.
Brown and St. Francis split the season series 2-2. The Bears beat the Terriers, 12-11 (SVOT), on Sept. 2 at home and fell to St. Francis, 5-4, on Sept. 30 on the road and, 9-7, on Oct. 28 at home.
Brown 11, St. Francis 9
Brown....................... 3…2…4…2…11
St. Francis................ 6…1…1…1…9
Brown Goals: Bouscaren 3, Bush 3, Burke, Fuller, Hwang, Kirchberg, Rawlings.
Brown Saves: Hallal 8.
2017 Northeast Water Polo Conference All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player: Dennis Blyashov (Harvard University)
Rookie of the Tournament: Dennis Blyashov (Harvard University)
Coach of the Tournament: Ted Minnis (Harvard University)
First Team
Vojislav Mitrovic (Goalie), Princeton University
Dennis Blyashov, Harvard University
Jordan Colina, Princeton University
Will Lapkin, St. Francis College Brooklyn
Sean Duncan, Princeton University
Matt Payne, Princeton University
Second Team
Anthony Ridgley (Goalie), Harvard University
Austin Sechrest, Harvard University
Zach Roper, Iona College
Nick Bunn, Harvard University
Clyde Huibregtse, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rico Burke, Brown University
Tommy Bush, Brown University
