No. 10 Men’s Water Polo Tops No. 19 St. Francis Brooklyn, 14-11

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – Senior Matty Gallas, junior Yahel Murvitz-Lahav, and sophomore Tyler Kirchberg each scored three goals as No. 10 Brown University men's water polo defeated No. 18 St. Francis Brooklyn, 14-11, on Saturday afternoon at the SFC Aquatic Center.

In a ranked contest pitting the top two teams in the CWPA Northern Division standings, the Bears (14-3, 8-0 CWPA North) came back from a 6-5 halftime deficit to top the host Terriers (8-5, 5-1 CWPA North).

Gallas (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Murvitz-Lahav (Tel Aviv, Israel), and Kirchberg (Orinda, Calif.)
paced the Bears' offense with their hat tricks while juniors Jake Wyatt (Corona Del Mar, Calif.) and Luke Irwin (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) each netted two goals. Sophomore Rico Burke (San Mateo, Calif.) added a single tally.

Murvitz-Lahav opened the game's scoring before St. Francis answered with a pair of markers to take a 2-1 lead. Murvitz-Lahav scored again to tie it at 2-2, and Kirchberg scored at the 3:51 mark as the two sides stood tied at 3-3 through one period.

The Terriers registered three straight goals to start the second quarter, gaining a 6-3 edge with 3:52 to play in the first half. Wyatt stemmed the tied with a goal, and Gallas scored with 1:12 to go in the quarter as the Terrires held a 6-5 edge at halftime.

Brown tied the score at 6-6 just over a minute into the third stanza. St. Francis pulled ahead 7-6, but the Bears responded with a pair of goals from Kirchberg to garner an 8-7 advantage with 2:25 remaining in the period. After another Terrier marker, Gallas gave the visitors a 9-8 lead going to the fourth frame.

The Bears took a 12-8 lead less than three minutes into the final quarter with three consecutive goals from Murvitz-Lahav, Gallas, and Irwin. The hosts cut their deficit to 12-9 prior to Irwin's second tally of the quarter. Kirchberg netted an insurance tally with 1:04 to play.

The match stood as a make-up date for a game originally scheduled for Sept. 27.

Next, Brown will compete at the Ivy Championship tomorrow, taking on the Ivy club champion in the semifinals at 10:30 a.m. before playing in either the third-place game at 2:15 p.m. or the title game at 3:30 p.m. vs. either Harvard or Princeton.

Brown 14, St. Francis 11
Brown....................... 3…2…4…5…14
St. Francis................ 3…3…2…3…x
Brown Goals: Gallas 3, Kirchberg 3, Murvitz-Lahav 3, Irwin 2, Wyatt 2, Burke.