No. 19 Men’s Water Polo Tops Wagner, 10-7, Navy, 15-11

Saturday, September 14

Princeton, NJ

9:15 AM

Brown University

Wagner College

No. 19 Men’s Water Polo Tops Wagner, 10-7, Navy, 15-11

9/14/2019 4:51:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

PRINCETON, N.J. – No. 19 Brown University men's water polo defeated Wagner College, 10-7, and Navy, 15-11, on the first day of the Princeton Invitational on Saturday at DeNunzio Pool.

The Bears (7-1) never trailed in game one against the Seahwaks (1-6) while game two against the Midshipmen (4-3) saw Brown trail early before pulling away in the fourth quarter on a 4-1 scoring differential.

"I felt good about our games today," Brown head coach Felix Mercado said. "I think we still need to fix a couple of things defensively, but we made stops when we needed to."

Senior James Thygesen (Menlo Park, Calif.) led the Bears overall with six goals, one assist and one steal, netting a hat trick in each contest. Senior Armen Deirmenjian (Beverly Hills, Calif.) followed in goal scoring with five tallies and also added three assists and two steals. Junior goalie Riad Hallal (Coronado, Calif.) notched double digit saves in each contest and finished the day with 25.

Next, Brown concludes play at the Princeton Invitational tomorrow – Sunday, Sept. 15 – facing No. 15 George Washington (10:30 a.m.) and No. 14 Bucknell (2:15 p.m.).

Game 1 – No. 19 Brown 10, Wagner 7

Thygesen recorded three goals in the Bears' 10-7 game one win over Wagner on Saturday morning while Hallal came up with 12 saves in net.

Brown outscored the Seahawks in every quarter but the fourth and pulled away in the third with a 4-2 margin. Sophomore Niko Bhatia (Los Altos, Calif.) led the squad with three assists while sophomore Gabe Kaplan (Santa Monica, Calif.) contributed two assists. Defensively, four different players added one steal.

Deirmenjian and sophomore Andrew Penner (Atherton, Calif.) generated the first period goals for a 2-1 Brown advantage.

Both teams traded goals to open the second, with Penner scoring the final in the stanza for a 5-3 lead.

Brown registered the first three goals of the third with sophomore Matt Simko (Coral Gables, Fla.), Thygesen and Kaplan scoring, respectively, as the Bears started to pull away (8-3). The Seahawks broke up the run with two goals of their own before Deirmenjian closed the quarter with a score for a 9-5 Brown lead.

Thygesen tallied a goal to open the fourth while Wagner tacked on two more en route to the final of 10-7.

Brown 10, Wagner 7
Brown....................... 2…3…4…1…10
Wagner..................... 1…2…2…2…7
Brown Goals: Thygesen 3, Deirmenjian 2, Penner 2, Bhatia, Kaplan, Simko.
Brown Saves: Hallal 12.

Game 2 – No. 19 Brown 15, Navy 11

Brown held onto an 11-10 lead going into the fourth quarter and outscored the Mids, 4-1, in the final stanza for the 15-11 victory in the second game of day one. Freshman Leo Berkman (Orinda, Calif.), Deirmenjian and Thygesen led the way for the Bears, each scoring three goals.

In addition to his three goals, Deimenjian had three assists and two steals while Berkman also had an assist and two steals. Junior Aidan Reilly added a goal and three assists and senior Hudson Rawlings (Murrieta, Calif.) tallied three helpers. Hallal upped his save total from the Wagner game by one, finishing the afternoon contest with 13 blocks.

The first quarter ended 2-2 with Navy getting on the board before Berkman scored the first Brown goal. Thygesen added a score before the end of the quarter to knot the match.

Brown trailed 4-2 early in the second before goals by Deimenjian, Thygesen and Berkman gave the Bears a 5-4 advantage. Two ties would follow before Berry and Thygesen closed the frame with goals for an 8-6 lead.

Freshman Cole Atwell (San Diego, Calif.) scored both of his goals in the third, but Navy would pull within one (11-10), outscoring Brown 4-3.

Junior Adam Fuller (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Reilly notched the first two goals of the fourth to give the Bears a 13-10 cushion. Brown held Navy to just one goal in the stanza with Deimenjian and Berkman adding the final two goals of the contest.

Brown 15, Navy 11
Brown....................... 2…6…3…4…15
Navy.......................... 2…4…4…1…11
Brown Goals: Berkman 3, Deirmenjian 3, Thygesen 3, Atwell 2, Berry, Bhatia, Fuller, Reilly.
Brown Saves: Hallal 13.