This post was written by Hatchet reporter Rob Bartnichak.
After a narrow 11-10 victory over MIT and a 13-9 loss to Harvard, men’s water polo defeated No. 12 St. Francis (N.Y.) in a nail-biter Sunday at the Princeton Invitational.
With the 19-18 win against St. Francis – the highest-ranked opponent in program history that GW has defeated – the Colonials return to Foggy Bottom with a record of 2-1 following the first tournament of the season.
“The win [against St. Francis] was a grind-it-out type of game that was very physical,” said head coach Scott Reed. “At no point did we ever back down from this team.”
The teams traded goals all game and were knotted at 16 apiece at the end of regulation. The Colonials got out to a fast start in overtime with two goals from junior Bogdan Petkovic. But St. Francis, Collegiate Water Polo Association champions in 2012 and 2013, pulled within one at 18-17 at the end of the first overtime period.
Freshman Duke Becker gave the Colonials their final goal at the start of the second overtime period to put GW up by two. After allowing another goal to the Terriers, the Colonials held on in the final minutes and pulled out the victory.
Petkovic paced the Colonials, scoring five goals and tallying four assists and four steals, while seniors Brian Mojica and Ridvan Pehlivan added five goals and four assists each.
Junior Connor Dillon started in net for GW and made six saves in the first half. Sophomore Sander Profaci replaced Dillon in the second half and made seven saves while fighting off what Reed called an aggressive St. Francis offense.
“They kept attacking us and attacking us,” Reed said. “But in the end, we were able to take advantage of them getting tired.”
Reed said the team still needs to work on defense, which has been a priority in the early part of the season. A problem area for the Colonials is transitioning from the press into a zone defense once the ball passes into their zone, he said.
“We’re not in the condition that we want to be in at this point,” Reed said. “But we knew we would be able to play good defense this weekend.”
GW will be back in the pool Saturday at 10 a.m. against Fordham at the Bison Invitational in Lewisberg, Pa.
