George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
No. 20 Brown
Water Polo Breaks from MAWPC, Heads to Harvard Invitational for Four Games
10/13/2023 9:38:00 AM | Water Polo
WASHINGTON - The George Washington water polo team is ready for its final non-conference weekend of the season, traveling to the Harvard Invitational for four games. The Buff and Blue will face Brown (10:30 a.m.) and Iona (4:30 p.m.) on Saturday in Providence, R.I., followed by games against Harvard (8:30 a.m.) and UC Merced (1:30 p.m.) on Sunday in Cambridge, Mass. Coverage of three of this weekend's four games will be on ESPN+, and stream links can be found on the schedule page.
LAST TIME OUT
The Revolutionaries went 1-1 last weekend in two MAWPC road contests. GW opened the weekend with an 8-6 loss at Bucknell, but rebounded later in the day and took down Mount St. Mary's, 15-14, in overtime.
Viktor Jovanovic paced the GW attack with seven goals across both contests. Goalkeeper Luca Castorina kept the Buff and Blue in both games over the weekend, saving 36 shots against 57 attempts.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
The Brown Bears are 8-4 this season, which includes a 3-2 record in the NWPC, and checked in at No. 20 in the most recent CWPA rankings. Brown has ranked wins against No. 15 Fordham and RV Bucknell, both opponents that GW has struggled with this season. Sophomore center Ilias Stothart is a name to look out for - he leads the Bears in goals (35), ejections drawn (39) and penalties drawn (16).
Iona enters the weekend at 7-9 and 3-3 in the NWPC. The Gaels have yet to pick up a ranked win this season, but are 6-3 in their last nine contests. The Gaels have three student-athletes over 50 points - Andrew Miller (49 goals/10 assists/59 points), Trippe Bauman (25 goals/30 assists/55 points) and Luksa Vlasic (40 goals/12 assists/52 points), though no other student-athlete has more than 20 points.
The Harvard Crimson, who are ranked No. 18 in the most recent CWPA poll, are 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the NWPC. Harvard is undefeated against unranked opposition, which includes a 16-9 win over the Buff and Blue back on Sept. 9. The Crimson are coming off a 17-13 win over conference-rival Brown, where they were led by sophomore utility James Rozolis-Hill with five goals, three assists and five steals.
The UC Merced Bobcats are 12-11 this season, playing without a conference. The Bobcats enter the Harvard Invitational on a four-game losing skid, which included games against CBU and Santa Barbara, who both appeared in the most recent CWPA poll. UC Merced put up 10 goals in both of its two most-recent losses, which was the first time it scored 10 goals on an NCAA Division I opponent in program history.
LOOKING AHEAD
After the Harvard Invitational, the Revolutionaries will break for roughly two weeks before entering the home stretch of the regular season, which resumes on Saturday, Oct. 28 with games at Fordham (11 a.m.) and Wagner (6 p.m.).
