Men's water polo falls in two matches at Harvard

Saturday, September 18

Cambridge, Mass.

2:00 PM

Brown University

George Washington

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Men's water polo falls in two matches at Harvard

9/18/2021 8:16:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

The Bears dropped close contests to George Washington and Harvard over the weekend.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Brown water polo hung tight but could not pull out a victory, dropping matches against George Washington and Harvard on Saturday (Sept. 18).

"Saturday was a rough day for us where we shot ourselves in the foot too many times," said head coach Felix Mercado. "We had opportunities against George Washington that we didn't convert and you can't leave those out there against a good team."

Game 1 vs George Washington
Brown fell in double overtime to begin the day, losing 12-11 to George Washington. Ben Kirshon led the team with three goals and Cole Atwell added two for the Bears. Six other Bears also tallied a goal in the game.

It was a back-and-forth contest to begin the game but George Washington took a 10-8 lead with under two minutes to play. Atwell and Gabe Chang scored within 30 seconds of each other to tie the game and send it to overtime.

George Washington scored the first overtime goal but the game was sent to double OT after Kirshon netted his third goal of the night with four seconds left in the period. George Washington scored the go-ahead goal in the second overtime with 1:40 on the clock and Brown could not manage another comeback.

"We did a better job against Harvard but we missed too many power plays," said Mercado. "All we can do is watch film, get back to practice, and continue to build the being ready to compete next week at home."

Game 2 vs Harvard
The Bears offense struggled early and Harvard took a 5-1 lead in the first half. Brown's only goal came from Evan Moore in the first two frames.

Brown pulled back into the game scoring three-straight to start the third with goals from Aleksic, Kirshon and Andrew Penner.

Harvard held Brown at bay until a goal with 4:17 in the game by the Bears tied the game at seven. Two straight Harvard goals made the score 7-9. Brown tallied one more goal but was unable to notch the tying goal before Harvard added its final goal to put the match away.