Division III No. 2 Chapman University Escapes Division III No. 8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12-11, in 2024 USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championship Semifinal
REDLANDS, Calif. — Division III No. 2-ranked/Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) runner-up Chapman University’s Nate Randolph scored off an assist from Christian Gotterup with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter for the deciding factor as the Panthers rallied from a 10-9 third quarter deficit to overcome Division III No. 8/Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Eastern Champion the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 12-11, in the semifinals of the 2024 USA Water Polo Division III National Collegiate Championship hosted at the University of Redlands’ Thompson Aquatic Center.
The win advances Chapman to 16-14 on the year and the Division III National Championship game at 12:30 p.m. Pacific/3:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, December 8, versus the host Bulldogs who defeated Division III No. 10/Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) East Region Champion Augustana College, 16-5. MIT will take on Augustana at 10:30 a.m. Pacific/1:30 p.m. Eastern for Third Place as the Engineers will aim to add another third place mark to the program’s record following prior bronze medal marks in 2019, 2022 and 2023 to accompany a fourth place finish in 2021.
MIT opened the game’s scoring as Rick Lundh (So., Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) lined in a penalty shot with 7:03 left in the first quarter, but Randolph responded off an assist from Daniel Franks at 6:42 to even the damage at one-all. Randolph staked the Panthers to the programs’ first lead of the contest with 4:19 left on the quarter’s clock via another assist from Frank, but William Ewald (So., Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick) delivered a response at 3:47 courtesy a helper from Derek Schaffer (Fr., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) to balance the scoreboard at two-all.
Andras Beleznay (So., Delray Beach, Fla./Saint Andrew’s School) pushed MIT back in front at 3-2 with 3:05 on the clock, but the Panthers prowled back into the contest as Chapman goalie stoned a five-meter penalty shot by Lundh (1:43) prior to Randolph converting a man-up opportunity off another assist from Franks (34 seconds) to square the squads at three-all after eight minutes of back-and-forth action.
Chapman returned to the lead in the second quarter with 6:38 left until halftime as Franks zipped in a man-up bid courtesy an assist from Dylan Gallegos to push the Panthers ahead at 4-3. Ewald struck back for the Engineers with a natural marker (6:18) to bring balance to the score at four-all before Kieran Kearns (So., Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Palos Verdes) shook his defender, accepted a pass from Kunal Rajadhyax (So., Vernon Hills, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and put away an even-strength chance at 4:04 as MIT edged in front 5-4.
Ewald built upon the narrow lead by arching in another strike at 3:08 with both teams at even-strength to provide the Engineers the game’s biggest lead to that point at 6-4. Kearns further inflated the margin to 7-4 as he made good use of a pass from Lundh with 2:06 until intermission.
However, Chapman began to chip away at its deficit as Sammy Hendrickson found the back of the cage with 54 seconds left to inch the Panthers within 7-5 prior to the closing horn of the second quarter.
Following halftime, Chapman went back to work as Gotterup transmogrified a power-play chance with 6:51 left in the third quarter and torqued in a penalty shot at 6:08 to erase MIT’s lead for a seven-all tie.
Rajadhyax returned the favor 37 seconds later at 5:31 as he put away a feed from Kearns on an MIT man-up opportunity to put the Engineers back in front at 8-7.
Everett Prussak erased the lead with 5:09 to play in the third quarter by beating MIT netminder Joshua Woren (Fr., Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail) to even the score at eight-all.
Randolph struck again at 2:56 to stake Chapman to a 9-8 margin, but a penalty shot by Rajadjhyax at 2:08 once again provided parity for both programs at nine-all.
MIT continued its momentum as Kearns found Lundh for a natural goal at 1:38 to put the Engineers in front at 10-9 exiting the third quarter and heading into the decisive final eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
Over two minutes into the concluding frame, Chapman began to take command of the contest as Randolph found Nathan Jones for an equalizer with 5:48 left in regulation to make it 10-all.
Adam Ivatorov (Jr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) put MIT back in front at 5:23 off a pass from Rajadhyax, but Jones connected with Prussak at 2:42 to knot the score at 11-all and raise the possibility of overtime.
Following nearly a minute and a half of fruitless action between the two programs, Randolph delivered the decisive blow by taking advantage of an assist from Gotterup with 1:19 remaining on the clock for Chapman’s 12th goal.
Ivatorov had MIT’s lone shot in the final 79 seconds of competition as Panthers’ goalie Jackson Sanders turned aside the scoring chance to prevent overtime and permit Chapman to elude the Engineers, 12-11, for another shot at Redlands in the Division III title tilt.
Randolph (five goals, one assist, one steal), Gotterup (two goals, one assist, one steal), Prussak (two goals), Franks (one goal, three assists), Hendrickson (one goal, two steals), Jones (one goal, one assist, one steal) and Gallegos (one assist, two steals) combined for Chapman’s offense in support of an eight save and two steal effort by goalkeeper Jackson Sanders.
For MIT, Ewald led the way with three goals, while Kearns and Rajadhyax both posted pairs of goals and assists. Lundh (two goals, one assist), Ivatorov (one goal), Beleznay (one goal) and Shaffer (one assist) also factored on offense with Kearns, Ewald and Woren each adding three steals on the defensive end of the tank. Woren stopped eight shots in taking the loss as the Engineers move to 9-17 on the season with a shot at reaching double-digits in wins depending on the outcome of the Third Place game versus Augustana.
MIT will seek to add a fourth Third Place finish to its Division III National Championship tournament legacy as the team stopped Johns Hopkins University by a 20-13 score at the 2019 event hosted by Whittier College, took an 11-10 loss to the Blue Jays in 2021 at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and dispatched JHU 9-6 in 2022 at California Lutheran University prior to managing host Augustana by an 11-9 tally last year.
