Water polo picks up two wins to start play at Harvard Invitational

Saturday, October 16

Cambridge, Mass.

2:15 PM

Brown University

Salem

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Water polo picks up two wins to start play at Harvard Invitational

10/16/2021 8:31:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Brown men's water polo got back in the win column with two wins to start the Harvard Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 18). The Bears beat Salem to start the day before closing out the evening with a win over Mount St. Mary's.

"It's always good to pick up wins and play well," said head coach Felix Mercado. "Our defense set the tone for both games. We also did a good job offensively of moving the ball and spreading out the scoring. Tomorrow will be tougher against two good teams."

GAME 1 vs Salem
In the first game of the day, Brown took down Salem 19-5. Ben Kirshon and Thomas Hoffmeister each had three goals to lead the way for the Bears. Leo Berkman, Nick Berry, Filip Aleksic, Anderson Todd and Gabe Chang all tallied two goals.

In goal, Ugo Piovan and Joe Gallagher split time. Both players finished with seven blocks.

The game got off to a slow start before Brown scored the first goal with 3:43 on the clock coming from Hoffmeister. Cole Atwell scored less than a minute later to put the Bears up 2-0. In a 30-second span with just over a minute to play in the quarter, Chang scored back-to-back goals to put Brown up 4-0 after the first.

The Bears broke the game wide open with three more goals, coming from Hoffmeister, Berkman and Andrew Penner. After Salem's first goal, Aleksic hit the back of the net less than 20 seconds later. Berkman and Berry each scored another goal as the Bears led 10-3 at the half.

The third quarter belonged to Kirshon, as he scored all three of his goals in the quarter. Aleksic added another goal to make the score 14-4.

Salem scored a quick goal to start the fourth but Brown responded with five goals to finish the quarter. Todd tallied two goals in the quarter and Hoffmeister, Berkman and Maxwell Patterson each scored one.

GAME 2 vs Mount St. Mary's
The Bears swept the day with a 16-7 win over Mount St. Mary's. Ben Resko led the team with three goals. Connor Enright, Evan Moore and Kirshon each scored two. A total of 11 Bears scored a goal against the Mounts.

Piovan finished the night with nine blocks and did not allow a goal. Gallagher added three blocks in goal.

Brown had a hot start, jumping ahead 7-0 after one and 10-0 at halftime. Seven different Bears scored a goal in the first quarter. Enright, Resko, Patterson, Todd, Berkman, Aleksic and Chang all scored to give Brown the comfortable lead.

Enright scored his second goal of the game in the second while Moore and Atwell became the eighth and ninth Bears to score in the game.

Kirshon scored two goals in the third and Moore and Resko also scored as Brown led 14-4 with one quarter left to play. Hoffmeister was the 11^th Bear of the night to score and Resko capped his hat trick to close out the fourth quarter.

Brown will finish play at the Harvard Invitational with two games on Sunday. The Bears will play Gannon at 10:30 a.m. before taking on Wagner at 3:30 p.m.