Throughout the water polo season, Brunswick School knew the target was on their backs. After all, winning the New England Water Polo League championship for the first time in school history last year meant teams everywhere were looking to knock the Bruins down a peg.
Instead of the pressure getting too hot to handle, head coach Eric Tillman’s squad simply shrugged it off and did what they knew best, which was to dominate.
And that they did. After finishing league play 13-1 and earning a top seed in this year’s Liquid Four, Brunswick blasted Hopkins School, 13-5, in the semifinals and then took care of Suffield Academy, 18-8, to win its second consecutive championship.
“I don’t think they really thought of the pressure,” Tillman said. “They are funny kids. They are humorous kids and they were just having fun throughout the season. They never really let the pressure of trying to repeat being a dominant thought. We played Greenwich High three times and Greenwich Aquatics a bunch of times in scrimmages or games and they beat us pretty good several times. It’s not like we thought we were unbeatable. They knew they had to work and they did that.”
During the championship game, played Saturday at Exeter Academy, Brunswick’s offense was firing on all cylinders and the defense was lights out, holding No. 2 seeded Suffield to two goals at the half.
Offensively, Brunswick, which scored nine goals in the first half and had 14 in the third quarter, was led by a trio of Bruins. Pat Stefanou, Simon Derby and Will Marvin each netted five goals. Thacher Scannell added two goals and Nico Apostolides rounded out the scoring with a goal.
In net, Charlie Pang finished with 15 saves to help Brunswick claim gold.
“In the finals, nine of our first 14 goals were assisted and that’s not bad,” Tillman said. “It shows that this was a team effort. Suffield has three really good swimmers and we were able to keep those kids in check. Our team defensive was stifling. Charlie made 15 saves and that was great. Not taking anything away from Charlie, but on a lot of those saves Suffield didn’t have a lot of good looks at the net. We then turned it around and had some beautiful passing on the other end.”
With the win, the Bruins not only secured its back-to-back New England championships, but also were able to avenge an early season 6-5 loss to Suffield back on Oct. 3. The second time Brunswick battled Suffield, on Nov. 7, the Bruins came out on top 11-7 and reclaimed the No. 1 seed in the New England tournament.
“It’s very satisfying to watch these kids work as hard as they have and to achieve that goal,” Tillman said. “As a long-time coach, my goal is always to get to the tournament and see what happens. And our future looks bright. We only graduate three kids. They are good kids but we have some really talented youngsters.”
In the semis against Hopkins School, Brunswick started the tournament off in grand fashion, cruising to a 13-5 victory. Once again Stefanou netted five goals in a game, while Marvin took home four and Derby added two. Apostolides and Lucas Bell grabbed one goal each.
Stefanou was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while Pang was recognized as the tourney’s top goaltender. Both Marvin and Derby were also named to the All-Tournament team.
“This had to be one of the most cohesive teams I’ve ever coached and I have coached a lot of teams,” Tillman said. “This is a pretty tight team. They wanted to be with each other. It was a fun team to be around. There was no drama on this team and a lot of that was because of the captains. They took care of business. The kids knew when to work and when they could mess around.”
With the victory at New Englands, Brunswick finished the regular season 22-5 overall and 13-1 in league play. And to get that record was an accomplishment, since the Bruins played anything but a cupcake schedule.
They played Suffield Academy and Greenwich High School three times each, Exeter, Staples High School, Deerfield Academy and Loomis Chaffee School twice, and Choate Rosemary Hall and Greenwich Aquatics once.
“You only get better when you play top teams,” Tillman said. “Those are high-quality programs. So that really prepared us and when we got to New Englands we were ready to go. We never gave up all year and never got intimidated. They think they could beat anybody and the program is growing. That’s what is so important.”
When it came to goals this season, no one was better than Stefanou, who finished with a team-high 87. Not to be outdone was Derby, who added 82 goals. Marvin added 45 goals this season, while Apostolides netted 26 and Jack Muccia finished with 20.
Will Prout and Keegan Drew also finished with double digits in scoring, as Prout netted 15 goals and Drew pitched in 12.
Scannell had no issue dishing the ball, and led Brunswick with 39 assists. The next closest was Apostolides with 17. Stefanou contributed with 16 and Marvin added 14. Derby took home 12 assists this season.
Defensively for Brunswick, it started at the goalie position, as Charlie Pang was once again lights out this season. The opposition only found the back of the net 155 times this season and Pang finished with 174 saves and added 31 steals.
Just as he led Brunswick in assists, Scannell paced the team in steals, finishing with 61 this season. Apostolides netted 41 and right behind him was Stefanou with 37 steals. Not to be outdone was Derby, who finished with 29 steals, while Muccia pitched in with 21 and Marvin grabbed 20.
While the talent was certainly there this season, one of the key reasons for the team’s success was with coach Ulmis Iorache brought to the table.
“The things that Ulmis put into this team was amazing,” Tillman said. “The level of sophistication in our game increased every time we went out there. We are playing different sets. Ulmis is making adjustments during the game and these guys just look at him and say ‘gotcha.’ The IQ of this team, from top to bottom, was really high.”
In addition, the three seniors on the team helped lead the team to greatness.
“Lucas Bell, Jack Muccia and Pat Stefanou are all really good leaders, but they all have a different leadership style,” Tillman said. “Between the three of them, each one knew how to successfully lead a team. It was nice. These guys had it down.”
With a bunch of young talent returning next year, the future is certainly bright for Brunswick water polo.
