NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's water polo team dropped matches against MIT and Harvard University on Saturday afternoon at Lott Natatorium.

The Camels fell 12-4 to MIT in the morning matchup and lost 20-6 to Harvard in the afternoon. The Engineers improved to 3-8 overall while the Crimson moved to 9-4. Conn dropped to 1-6 overall on the season.

Prior to the first game, the Camels honored three seniors—Christian Jacobsen (North Palm Beach, Fla.), Sam Guy (Portland, Ore.) and Chase Fichtner (New Canaan, Conn.)—in a special ceremony. All three also netted goals on the day.  

Conn College will next compete at the Harvard Invitational on October 15-16 in Cambridge, Mass.

Game 1 – MIT 12, Conn College 4

MIT came out of the gates firing, but three stops by Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.) kept the Camels close early on. Conn got on the scoreboard with 3:35 left in the quarter to cut a 2-0 deficit in half, with Jacobsen notching his first goal of the day off a feed from Guy.

The Engineers pulled away in the final 3:28 of the period. Jack King scored on a penalty shot to get things started, and MIT added three more goals to extend its lead to 6-1.

Conn got back into the game behind goals by Jacobsen and Matthew Maischoss (Malibu, Calif.) in the second quarter. Fichtner dished out assists on both goals, which cut the deficit to 6-3 with 3:56 left in the half. However, the Engineers found the back of the net three more times to bring their lead to 9-3 at the break.

MIT outscored Conn 3-1 in the second half en route to the victory. King and Miller Geschke led the Engineers with three goals apiece.

Jacobsen completed his hat trick with 2:22 left in the contest courtesy of another assist from Guy. Parilov played the entire game in goal for the Camels and finished with 15 saves, eight of which came in the final period.  

Game 2 – Harvard 20, Conn College 6

Jacobsen opened the scoring less than a minute into the contest to give the hosts an early lead. Guy and Jacobsen also netted goals in the stanza for Conn, but the Crimson responded with eight goals and led 8-3 heading into the second period.

A goal by Carson Neidert (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was the lone score for the Camels in the second. Harvard tacked on five more tallies to lead 13-4 at the break.

The Crimson outscored the Camels 3-0 in the third quarter and led 16-4 heading into the final period. In the opening minute of the fourth, Parilov made a big save on a penalty attempt to the lower-left corner. On the ensuing Conn possession, Siaki Nelson (Montgomery, Texas) found Fichtner for a quick score. 

Later in the quarter, Jacobsen netted his second goal of the game—and fifth of the day—to close out Conn's scoring. Fichtner also recorded a pair of goals and an assist in the contest.

Cully MacPherson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) got the starting nod in goal for the Camels and finished with seven saves in 24 minutes of action. Parilov made a pair of stops in the final eight minutes.

James Rozolis-Hill and Alex James led the Crimson with four goals each.