Sept. 5, 2009
Boston, Mass.- The Pacific men's water polo team and head coach James Graham kicked off the 2009 season on Saturday, Sept. 5, as the No. 13 Tigers defeated MIT in the opening round of the MIT Invitational. With the win, the Tigers improve to 1-0 on the year, while MIT falls to 0-2.
The Tigers dominated the Engineers early in the first half finishing the first quarter with a 5-0 lead. With 5:00 left in the first quarter, Pacific scored first with a goal from senior Grant Hollis (Redlands, Calif.). At the 1:58 mark freshman Balazs Szabo (Budapest, Hungary) scored his first collegiate goal, putting Pacific up 4-0. Also contributing to Pacific's first quarter offensive drive were Austin Delong (Houston, Texas), Tom Koning (Poway, Calif.) and Neil Bykerk (Palso Verdes, Calif.), who scored a goal apiece.
With 5:24 remaining in the second quarter, Szabo scored his second goal on the day. MIT quickly responded, scoring their first goal of the game 16 seconds later. Up until that point, the Tiger defense had held MIT scoreless for virtually 13 minutes. Not to be outdone, Koning scored his second goal on the day at the 4:54 mark. Once more the MIT offense immediately responded, scoring it's second goal of the day with 4:30 remaining. With the Tigers up 7-2, Szabo and redshirt junior T.J. Friedman (Fairfield, Calif.) gave Pacific a 9-2 lead, each scoring goals at 0:47 and 0:15 respectively.
Entering the third quarter, the Tiger offense did not back down. Hollis kept the momentum going, scoring his second goal of the day with 5:24 remaining in the third. MIT scored it's third and final goal of the game with 3:32 left in the third. Closing out the day for the Tigers, Tyler Reardon (Oak Park, Calif.) scored a goal in the third. While sophomores Koning and Austin Delong (Houston, Texas) each scored goals ending the third and fourth quarters.
Koning led the way for the Tigers with four goals, Szabo and Delong each scored three goals while senior David Andrus (Houston, Texas) totaled six saves in goal for Pacific.
The Tiger's continue action today at 12:30pm as they take on Harvard in the second round of the MIT Invitational.
Scoring Recap
| |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Final |
| Pacific |
5 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
15 |
| MIT |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
Goals
Pacific: Tom Koning 4, Balazs Szabo 3, Austin Delong 3, Grant Hollis IV 2, T.J. Friedman 1, Tyler Reardon 1, Joey Rossi 1
Assists
Pacific: Tyler Reardon 5 Balazs Szabo 2, Austin Delong 2,
Steal
Pacific: Grant Hollis 3, Tyler Reardon 3
Goalkeeper Saves
Pacific: David Andrus 6
