Palo Alto, Calif. - The Connecticut College men's water polo team closed out their first season in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, finishing ninth at the 2025 MPSF Men's Water Polo Championships.
GAME 1: PSB 14, Conn 7
The opening quarter of the first game was a back-and-forth affair. Caden Currykosky opened the scoring for Penn State Behrend, before Jeffrey Harrington (San Diego, Calif.) got Conn on the board. The Lions jumped in front 3-1, before Thomas McDonough (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Topher Cook (West Palm Beach, Fla.) evened the score. PSB then used a 5-0 run spanning the end of the first quarter and the entirety of the second quarter to lead 8-3 at the half.
Cook ended the run with an early goal in the third quarter, before back-to-back goals from PSB extended the lead to 10-4. Paul Podrebarac (Friendswood, Texas) traded a goal with a Lion, as PSB led 11-5 heading to the fourth. Jesse Ellis (Fresno, Calif.) cut the deficit to 11-6, before three straight goals from PSB made it 14-6. Harrington notched the last goal of the contest as Conn fell 14-7.
GAME 2: Conn 24, Wheaton 10
Conn rebounded with a dominant win in their second game. The Camels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, as Podrebarac, Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and Keegan Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) each tallied one goal. Wheaton answered with two straight goals, but Zach Dixon (Wayne, Pa.) and Matthew Maischoss (Malibu, Calif.) converted to put Conn in front 5-2 after one. The Camels continued their run to open the second quarter, as Ellis notched two goals and Kosiba added another to extend the lead to 8-2. Charles Jacoby ended the run for Wheaton, but back-to-back goals from Kosiba pushed the lead to 10-3. The Lyons responded with two late goals, as Conn led 10-5 at the break.
Wheaton opened the third quarter with two straight tallies, before Conn answered with four goals, as Harrington notched two, and both Cook and Kosiba added one to make it 14-7. The teams traded one more goal each in the quarter as the Camels led 15-8 heading to the fourth. Conn put the game away with a dominant fourth quarter, outscoring Wheaton 9-2. During the final quarter, Harrington notched three goals, Podrebarac recorded two, and Dixon, Ellis, Parilov, and Ethan Hipsky (Glastonbury, Conn.) all added one goal, as the Camels came away with the 24-10 win.
GAME 3: Conn 20, W&J 15
Conn started quickly as Carson Neidert (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Hipsky made it 2-0. W&J answered with back-to-back goals, before Dixon and Kosiba put Conn back in front 4-2. The teams traded a goal each in the final minutes of the quarter, with Ellis finding the net for the Camels, as Conn led 5-3 after one. Dixon extended the lead with an early goal for Conn, before the Presidents cut the lead to 6-5 with two straight goals. Cook and Harrington responded for Conn, before the teams again traded one more goal, with Conn getting a marker from Ellis to lead 10-6 at the break.
W&J opened the second half with a 5-2 run to cut the Conn lead to 12-11. However, Ellis and Harrington added a late goal each, as Conn headed to fourth in front 14-11. Podrebarac scored twice, while Parilov added a goal early in the final frame to push the lead to 17-11. The Presidents answered with a 3-1 run, cutting the deficit to 18-14. However, Hipsky and Neidert iced the game with goals in the final 40 seconds, before a consolation goal for W&J gave the Camels the 20-15 win.
Conn's first season in the MPSF comes to a close as the Camels finished 6-14 overall and 3-5 in the MPSF.
