No. 18 Men’s Water Polo Ready to Host 2018 NWPC Championship

Friday, November 16

Providence, RI

4:00 PM

Brown University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

No. 18 Men’s Water Polo Ready to Host 2018 NWPC Championship

11/13/2018 4:05:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Tournament Central Bracket Watch vs. MIT (ESPN+)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – No. 18 ranked and No. 4 seeded Brown University men's water polo is ready to host the 2018 Northeast Water Polo Conference at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center with the Bears set to meet No. 4 seeded MIT in the first round on Friday at 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

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NWPC Championship: Tournament Central | Schedule | Bracket
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FREE ADMISSION WITH BROWN ID
Brown Athletics will offer free admission to the 2018 Northeast Water Polo Conference to any members of the Brown community with a valid Brown ID.

THE NWPC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2018 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship will take place at Brown University's Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center from Friday, Nov. 16 to Sunday, Nov. 18. Six teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket for the right to represent the NWPC at the NCAA Championship.

No. 1 Harvard and No. 2 St. Francis Brooklyn have earned first-round byes in the tournament with No. 3 Princeton and No. 6 Iona as well as No. 4 Brown and No. 5 MIT set to open the tournament on Friday in the first round.

Brown will compete in the second first round game on Friday at 4:00 p.m. prior to playing in either the semifinals on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. vs. Harvard or in the fifth-place game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The first-place game will take place on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. while the third-place game will occur on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

BROWN IN THE REGULAR SEASON
Brown posted a 17-12 overall record and 6-4 NWPC mark during the regular season. The Bears earned five wins over teams that were ranked at the time of the game, including victories over No. 7 Harvard, No. 8 Pepperdine, No. 12 Princeton, No. 18 Loyola Marymount, and No. 19 San Jose State.

IN THE POLLS
In the CWPA poll from Nov. 7, Brown checks in as the No. 18 team in the nation as one of three NWPC teams to appear in the rankings. No. 12 Harvard leads the group joining the Bears alongside No. 17 Princeton. St. Francis Brooklyn is receiving votes and sits just one spot outside the rankings. No. 15 Bucknell represents the MAWPC in the poll.

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Senior Travis Bouscaren (Cambridge, Mass.) leads Brown with 49 goals on the year and has added 27 steals. Fellow senior Spencer Carroll (Newport Beach, Calif.) paces the team in assists (38), steals (49), and field blocks (17), while netting 26 goals.

Junior Armen Deirmenjian (Beverly Hills, Calif.) ranks second on the team in goals (45), third in assists (32), second in steals (46), second in field blocks (13), and third in ejections drawn (31). Junior Hudson Rawlings (Murrieta, Calif.) stands third on the team in goals (37), second in assists (32), second in steals (46), and second in ejections drawn (58).

Junior James Thygesen (Menlo Park, Calif.) has posted 31 goals and 30 assists, and sophomore Aidan Reilly (Los Angeles, Calif.) has tallied 30 goals, 30 assists, and 26 steals. Freshman Matt Simko (Coral Gables, Fla.) has drawn a team-high 64 ejections.

IN THE CAGE
Brown has a pair of talented goalkeepers in sophomore Riad Hallal (Coronado, Calif.) and freshman Ugo Piovan (Vouliagmeni, Greece). Hallal has made 144 saves on the year on a .516 save percentage while Piovan has stopped 161 shots on a .479 save percentage. Hallal has made double-figure saves seven times this season, and Piovan has notched six double-figure save efforts.

THE MERCADO ERA
Now in his 12^th season as the head coach of Brown, Felix Mercado has posted a 259-121 overall record (.682 winning percentage) during his time with the Bears. His teams have posted eight straight 20-win seasons and have totaled nine 20-win seasons during his first 11 years. He has guided the program to at least 17 wins in each of his 12 seasons with the Bears.

NWPC WEEKEND SWEEP
Brown registered a weekend sweep in NWPC play from Oct. 6-7, defeating then-No. 7 Harvard (11-9), MIT (11-10 in OT), and then-No. 12 Princeton (11-10). Juniors Armen Deirmenjian (Beverly Hills, Calif.) and James Thygesen (Menlo Park, Calif.) each netted a hat trick against the Crimson before senior Travis Bouscaren (Cambridge, Mass.) and junior Hudson Rawlings (Murrieta, Calif.) each scored three goals against the Tigers. Bouscaren also recorded the game-winning goal in overtime against the Engineers.

SUCCESS AT SANTA CLARA
Brown posted a 3-1 record at the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament in Santa Clara, Calif., earning wins over then-No. 18 Loyola Marymount (13-12), Fresno Pacific (12-7), and then-No. 19 San Jose State (11-3), while dropping a narrow 11-10 decision to then-No. 15 Cal Baptist. Freshman Stephen Salle (Chadds Ford, Pa.) netted four goals in the win over LMU.

CLOSE MARGINS
This season, the Bears have competed in 12 games that have been decided by one or two goals in regulation or gone to overtime. Brown has posted a 7-5 record in those games, going 2-3 in one-goal games, 2-1 in two-goal games, and 3-1 in overtime games.

WEEKLY HONORS
Five different Bears have tallied a total of six NWPC Player of the Week awards thus far this season. Sophomore goalkeeper Riad Hallal (Coronado, Calif.) has earned NWPC Defensive Player of the Week twice (Sept. 4, Oct. 9). Junior James Thygesen (Menlo Park, Calif.) and senior Travis Bouscaren (Cambridge, Mass.) gained NWPC Player of the Week honors on Sept. 4 and Oct. 9 respectively. Freshmen Gabe Kaplan (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Stephen Salle (Chadds Ford, Pa.) garnered NWPC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 18 and Oct. 24 respectively.

BRUNO AND CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
As a program, Brown has won five conference championships in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 2014. The Bears have finished in second place in conference championships on seven occasions – 1978, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, and 2016. Overall, the Bears have made 12 appearances in conference championship games.

NCAA FORMAT
Eight teams will earn berths into the NCAA Championship in 2018 with six conferences – the NWPC, MAWPC, GCC, MPSF, SCIAC, and WWPA – earning automatic berths into the championship and two teams gaining at-large bids. The top two teams will qualify directly to the national championship with the remaining six teams competing in four opening-round games to earn the final two spots in the bracketed championship.

Opening-round games will take place on Saturday, Nov. 24, Wednesday, Nov. 28, or Thursday, Nov. 29. Stanford University will host the national semifinals and finals on Dec. 1-2 at the Avery Aquatic Center.