MIT Goes to Overtime Twice, Cal Baptist Falls Twice Via Upset on WP Week 5

With 20 matches between ranked teams on the slate, including four Top 10 affairs, Week 5 of collegiate men’s water polo brought four upsets and five overtime contests.

#16 Cal Baptist lost two matches via upset, falling to RV Fordham in overtime and #18 Pomona-Pitzer.

MIT was involved in two overtime affairs, topping Iona in sudden death and falling to #18 Princeton.

Upsets

• RV Fordham def. #16 Cal Baptist 11-10 OT – Fordham came back from a 6-5 deficit with a quarter to play, knotting the score at 8 to force overtime. Trailing 9-8 after the first overtime period, the Rams rallied again, scoring three goals to steal away an 11-10 win. Phillip Wang knotted it up at 9 just 14 seconds into the second extra stanza. Joseph Galgani put CBU up 10-9 24 seconds later, before Jake Miller-Tolt tied it up again at the 1:55 mark. Miller-Tolt netted the game winner on a penalty shot with 37 left. Miller-Tolt and Dimitris Koukias each notched a hat trick for Fordham, while Galgani put in four goals and Logan Mena added four for Cal Baptist.
• RV Air Force def. #20 Whittier 13-8 – Whittier boasted a 5-4 halftime lead, but the Falcons turned the match around, outscoring the Poets 9-3 down the stretch for the upset. Campbell Harris put in five goals and Mike Miller added four to lead the Air Force attack. Eric Borunda and Dominick Nevarez paced Whittier with two scores each.
• #18 Pomona-Pitzer def. #16 Cal Baptist 10-7 – The Sagehens never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter behind goals by Joseph Schafer, Noah Sasaki and Sam Gorcey-Biblowitz. Pomona-Pitzer led 7-3 at the half and never allowed the Lancers closer than two the rest of the way (7-5 at 5:03 in the third). Eight Pomona-Pitzer players scored, led by two goals apiece for Sasaki and Tony Murphy, while Joseph Galgani scored a hat trick for Cal Baptist.
• #5 USC def. #4 UC Santa Barbara 10-9 – The Trojans avenged their Sept. 15 loss (13-9) to the Gauchos outscoring their foes 2-1 in the final stanza. USC led 4-2 after the first quarter, but UCSB tied it up at 5 at the half and matched the Trojans with three goals apiece in the third period. Jacob Mercep scored first in the fourth (7:36) to put USC up 9-8, but Leo Yuno cashed in on a power play just 25 seconds later (7:11) to knot the score at 9. The game’s final goal, by Jake Ehrhardt, came less than 30 seconds after that (6:48). UCSB had nine shots in the remaining time, with six saved and three misses. Mercep registered a hat trick for USC, while Ivan Gvozdanovic added four goals for UC Santa Barbara.

Overtime

• #17 St. Francis Brooklyn def. Iona 14-12 OT: Iona led 8-7 at the half, then St. Francis knotted the score at 10 after three quarters. Both teams put in two goals in the fourth quarter to send the game to extra time. Zane Drobenko gave the Terriers the lead at the 2:25 mark of the first extra period, then capped the scoring with another with 17 ticks left on the clock. Neither team found the back of the net in the second overtime period with St. Francis managing a miss and a save and Iona having its lone shot saved. German Rodriguez put in a game-high six goals for Iona, while Dobrenko paced the Terriers with four scores. Vladimir Mickic and Ivan Stefanovic added hat tricks for the victors.
• #6 Cal def. RV San Jose State 10-8 OT: Cal grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first quarter and boasted an 8-6 edge heading into the fourth period. SJSU rallied with a power play score by Niels Hofmeijer (4:50) and an even strength goal by Adam Bado (0:18). In the first overtime stanza, Nikos Delagrammatikas gave Cal the edge (1:29). Jasmin Kolasinac added an insurance score with 1:42 to go in the second extra period. Safak Simsek was the top scorer for the Bears with four goals, while Justin Pickering and Bado each put in two goals for the Spartans.
• MIT def. Iona 10-9 SD: MIT led 4-3 at the half, but Iona rallied with a 3-1 run in the third quarter to go up 6-5. The Engineers countered with a 2-1 edge in the fourth period to send the game to overtime tie at 7. Iona scored in each overtime stanza on a penalty by German Rodriquez (2:20, 5th) and a powerplay goal by Lester Machado (0:14, 6th). MIT answered with two goals in the second overtime, knotting the score at 8 on a power play goal by John Steele and 9 on a goal by Evan Kim with five seconds to play. Griffin Leonard scored the game winner one minute into the first sudden death period, making good on a power play attempt. Miller Geschke led MIT with three goals, while Machado also turned in a hat trick for Iona.
• RV Fordham def. #16 Cal Baptist 11-10 OT
• #18 Princeton def. MIT 9-8 OT: Trailing 5-3 after three periods, Princeton outscored MIT 4-2 in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Down 7-4 with 5:26 to play, the Tigers got goals from Yurian Quinones (2:21) and Alex Mendelsohn (1:41, power play 0:34) to tied it up. Keller Maloney cashed in on a power play to put Princeton up 8-7 with 2:35 to go in the first extra period and Mitchell Cooper added another score with 41 seconds left. MIT responded with a Kevin Downey power play goal with 1:55 to play in the second overtime to make it 9-8. The Engineers had one more shot, but it was saved to seal the Princeton win.

Week 5 Results