Men's Water Polo Season Preview
8/31/2022
The Brown men's water polo team will begin its season over Labor Day weekend, looking to compete for a title in the Northeast Water Polo Conference. The Bears are coming off third-place finish last season and earned 20 wins for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.
“I'm excited for the start of the season and in my opinion, the best first weekend invitational tournament, the Bruno Classic,” said Head Coach Felix Mercado. “We will be playing four top-20 teams off the bat with two of them in the top-six. It's also great to have Harvard co-host as it allows us to bring in more teams.”
“The team is looking good for the start and I am looking for contributions from a lot of guys,” said Mercado. “We know it's all about November and championships but September and October matter too.”
Key Returners
Brown returns its top-three points scores from a season ago, including leading goal scorers Cole Atwell, Connor Enright and Filip Aleksic.
Aleksic returns after earning Sophomore of the Year from the NWPC, also earning All-Conference honors. The junior finished last season leading the team in points with 50 goals and a team-high 57 assists. Aleksic also led the team with 28 steals.
Atwell was the team's leading goal scorer, finding the net 63 times. Atwell added 22 assists and was second on the team with 24 steals. The senior was named to the NWPC All-Tournament team last season.
Enright also earned All-Tournament nods and was second on the squad in both goals (53) and assists (51). Enright added 24 steals on defense for the Bears.
Nonconference Breakdown
The Bears begin non-conference play hosting the Bruno Classic. Brown will play six games over the weekend beginning with games against Austin College, California Baptist and Gannon on Sept. 3. The Bears will then play Stanford and Air Force on Sept. 4 before finishing the weekend against Pacific on Sept. 5.
Brown will host Long Island and MIT on Sept. 10 before making its first of two trips to California. Brown's first trip west will be on Sept. 17-18 with games against Whittier, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pepperdine. The second trip to California will be to compete in the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament against California Baptist, San Jose State and Santa Clara on Oct. 22-23.
The Bears will also compete in the Harvard Invite with games against Gannon and Pomona-Pitzer on Oct. 15 and Long Beach State and Salem on Oct. 16. All four of those games will be played at the Coleman Aquatics Center.
Conference Season
Conference play begins for the Bears on the road with games at St. Francis Brooklyn and Princeton on Oct. 1 before traveling to Iona on Oct. 2.
The Bears are home against Harvard and MIT on Oct. 8 and will finish up the home conference schedule against Princeton on Nov. 5 and St. Francis Brooklyn and Iona on Nov. 6.
Brown will travel to Harvard and MIT on Oct. 29.
The NWPC Tournament will be hosted by Brown this season, taking place from Nov. 18-20.
