No. 18/19 men’s water polo (8-5, 3-2 NWPC) split games on Saturday, beating MIT (3-11, 0-5 NWPC) 13-8 before falling to No. 9/10 Harvard (12-2, 5-0 NWPC), 18-10.
Brown dominated early against MIT, securing a 4-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. After the Engineers closed the gap in the second quarter, the Bears regained control, scoring seven goals in the second half to win 13-8.
Mac Berry ’27 led the offense with three goals, while Trey Rogers ’26, Máté Tymcyna ’27 and Ilias Stothart ’26 added two goals apiece. Gabe Chang ’25, Daniel Hadar ’26 and William Griswold ’28 chipped in with two assists each. Defensively, goalkeeper Dimitris Kratimenos ’28 tallied six saves for the Bears.
Berry credited the team for his success against MIT. “Any goals that I score come down to my teammates and their ability to find me around the pool,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. “I feel our chemistry is definitely moving in the right direction.”
While the win over MIT showcased Brown’s strengths on both ends of the pool, the Bears struggled to replicate this success later in the day against a strong Harvard squad. Bruno opened the scoring with two early goals, but the Crimson responded by scoring six straight, building a lead that the Bears would not overcome.
Reflecting on the team’s struggles against Harvard, Coach Felix Mercado emphasized the importance of following the game plan moving forward.
“We did have some decent moments, but overall we failed to stick to our game plan and got outplayed,” he wrote. “We need to be better if we want to win these important conference games.”
Berry emphasized the importance of learning from the loss. While the game against Harvard was not what they had hoped for, the team is “ready to get after it this week in the pool and get on top of the places where Harvard took advantage of us.”
Mercado said he needs to make adjustments moving forward. “It’s up to me to figure this out, and I know we will be better next weekend,” he wrote.
Brown has fought through a difficult schedule so far this season, standing at 8-5 despite facing six opponents ranked in the top 20. Both players and coaches feel that this tough competition will be beneficial for the team in the long run.
“One thing that has been helpful is when we play these ranked teams (is that) our flaws are exposed and we know what we have to work on,” Mercado wrote. “I know this team is capable of winning these games, but we need to stop putting ourselves in tough spots by allowing teams to go on runs against us. We are too talented and have worked too hard not to be better in these moments.”
Berry echoed Mercado’s sentiment. “The high level of competition has helped highlight our weaknesses,” he wrote. “When playing lower level teams it’s easy for holes in our offense and defense to go unseen.”
With some challenging games under their belt and valuable lessons learned, the Bears are focused on bouncing back next weekend at the Harvard Invite as they continue to push through conference play.
“We need to be tougher,” Mercado wrote. “We need to be able to play to the level that we are capable of if we want to compete, which I know we can. I know we can do it and I believe in this team.”
Gus Bailey is a senior staff writer covering the sports beat. He is a sophomore studying applied math-economics. His interests include data analytics, marketing, social media and of course, sports.
