Men’s Water Polo 2026 Season Preview
8/26/2026
The Brown University men’s water polo team will kick off their 2026 season hosting the Bruno Classic this weekend. Brown is looking to build on its successful 2025 season after posting a 20-10 record overall and finishing third in the NWPC tournament.
Felix Mercado enters his 19th season with the Bears, holding a 377-193 coaching record overall during his time at Brown.
Conference Schedule
Brown will compete in ten conference games in the 2026 season, with the first five away from the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center. NWPC play will open at Iona (Sept. 12) and will conclude against Princeton (Nov. 8).
Non-Conference Schedule
The Bears will begin their non-conference play with the Bruno Classic at home. They will face Pacific and California Baptist on Friday (Aug. 28), and then Wagner and UC Davis on Saturday (Aug. 29). They will close out the weekend against Gannon and Air Force on Sunday (Aug. 30).
Brown will travel to California twice this season, first from Sept. 18-19 to take on Biola, Fresno Pacific, Cal State Fullerton, and California Lutheran.
The Bears’ second trip to California will be for the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament. There, the Bears will face San Jose State, Santa Clara, and Pepperdine.
Outside of their West Coast trips, Brown will also host the Bruno Invite, with matches set against Connecticut College, Concordia, Wheaton, and Johns Hopkins. Additionally, the Bears will play in the Harvard Invite, co-hosted in Providence and Cambridge.
Key Returners
Brown welcomes back leading goal scorers Jaxson Tierney (65) and Dominik Balla (51). Other notable returning point leaders include Griffin Tunney (43 goals, 55 assists), Ramzi Megalli (42 goals, 8 assists). Mac Berry (26 goals, 44 assists) and Megalli led the team with 47 steals each.
In goal, Dimitrios Kratimenos will return, recording a career-high 169 saves in the 2025 season for the Bears.
New Faces
The Bears also welcome 10 new members to the team including Willem Anton, Colton Bell, Oliver Chu, Will Corr, Roland Csendes, Andrew Gao, Ethan Kittredge, Robert Norell, Santiago Soza, Neveh Yechiely.
The Class of 2030 features players from six different states, including three individuals from California, and one student-athlete from Hungary. Mercado is excited to see the level of play of the team increase in practice and matches with the addition of three goalies in this first-year class.
