BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The LIU men's water polo split its home opening double-header on Saturday.
In the first match, they pulled off an upset of MIT 13-12 before falling to nationally ranked Brown 15-11.
The Sharks pulled ahead early in the first match 4-0 before MIT stormed back with three in a row. From there, the newcomers
Josep Jodra Muñoz and
Riyad Shehadeh made their presence known once again. Jodra Muñoz scored two and Shehadeh added another, giving LIU a lead that the Engineers could not come back from. The duo of Jodra Muñoz and Shehadeh combined for 10 of the 13 Shark goals.
LIU hung in tough against Brown in the second match. The Sharks trailed early, but showed resilency and would not let the Bears pull away. Eventually, number 17 ranked Brown was just too much and LIU fell.
Riyad Shehadeh added to his goal tally with three and leads the team with 31.
Anthony Gauna scored his first collegiate goal in the match.
"I'm happy with how we played today and that the team's hard work paid off," head coach
Gabby Juarez said. "Coming in and beating MIT is a really big deal for our program since we're so young. It was really lovely to get that win and the fans were great today. It was just a great environment to be in."
The story of the day was goalkeeper
Ethan Zirh recording his 1,000
th career save in the match against Brown. Zirh has been a brick wall this season and cementing himself as one of the best players in the country, but he gives all the credit to his teammates.
"A goalie is only as good as his defenders in front of him and I would not have been able to achieve this without my team," Zirh said. "This is an accomplishment I've been working towards for four years and to do it at LIU in the first competitive season with the boys makes it a special moment that I won't forget. I'm excited to build on our big win today and hopefully make a few more saves along the way."
The Sharks return to the pool Sunday morning at 9 a.m. when they take on Harvard in the Steinberg Wellness Center on ESPN+.
