It was a great night of water polo for the Town of Greenwich on Oct. 5, as Brunswick School’s Varsity A team faced host Greenwich High School’s Varsity A squad in the championship game of the 49th annual Cardinal Tournament before raucous, rambunctious, standing-room-only crowd at Greenwich High School.

The two-day, 49th annual Cardinal Tournament featured outstanding high school water polo action and it culminated with a showdown between the Bruins and Cardinals, two premier teams in the East Coast with the event’s championship at stake – a familiar scenario in the tournament’s history.

The Cardinals and Bruins have dueled in numerous close, intense matchups in the past and this past Saturday’s title game was no different, as the lead changed hands a wealth of times, before Brunswick outlasted GHS and once again, claimed the championship.

Battling back from a four-goal deficit on several occasions, Brunswick used a strong second half to pull out an exciting 16-14 win over Greenwich in a back-and-forth championship game. The victory marked the sixth straight time Brunswick defeated its neighborhood water polo rival Greenwich for the Cardinal Tournament title.

“It was awesome, I give all the credit to the players, the senior players stepped up nicely,” Brunswick Varsity A coach Ulmis Iordache said. “Both teams have really good senior players and they stepped in this game. I’m very proud of my guys, they bounced back. It’s not easy being down by five but they never gave up and they never stopped. They fought hard to the end.”

Senior Adam Blum recorded five goals, while teammate Emil Sogaard-Srikrishnan, also a senior, registered four goals to pace the Bruins’ offense against the Cardinals. Brunswick faced deficits of 5-1, 6-3 and 8-4 during its comeback win.

“Being in Greenwich High School’s pool in their territory is tough, but it’s all about mental toughness and staying strong in the third quarter and the fourth quarter,” Sogaard-Srikrishnan said.

Both the Bruins and Cardinals went 3-0 in their first three games of the Cardinal Tournament on their way to advancing to the championship game. In the title matchup before a jam-packed house at GHS on Oct. 5, senior Luke Mendelsohn scored four goals, three of which came in the second quarter for the Cardinals. Junior Jasper Hirt and Charlie Koven, also a junior, each recorded hat tricks for host Greenwich, which played significantly better than their first meeting against Brunswick this season.

The championship game of the Beast of the East Tournament at Wilson High School in Pennsylvania saw Brunswick’s Varsity A squad post a convincing 18-5 triumph against Greenwich’s A team.

“I wasn’t there last week when we played at the Beast of the East, but I guess it was the opposite,” Greenwich Varsity A coach Jimmy Ramaley said. “They steamrolled us and we were never able to recover. Tonight (Saturday night), they were on their toes, coach Ulmis took an early timeout. We were going and it turned out that third quarter was when the tide changed.”

Getting goals from junior Robert Norell and Hirt, Greenwich held a 2-1 lead on Brunswick after the first quarter of play in the Cardinal Tournament. Converting a perimeter shot, Mendelsohn extended Greenwich’s edge to 3-1 with 6:22 remaining in the second quarter. Mendelsohn scored again, then senior Calvin Donat tallied upping the Cards’ lead on the Bruins to 5-1, prompting Iordache to call a timeout.

“We came out playing as a team, playing as a unit.” Mendelsohn said. “I think that we showed everybody what we got, but we still have more to give.”

Following the Bruins’ timeout, Sogaard-Srikrishnan scored for the visitors, cutting Greenwich’s advantage to 5-2 with 3:12 to go in the second quarter. Hirt gave GHS its four-goal lead back with a goal less than one minute later. Goals by Blum and sophomore Peter Saunders brought Brunswick to within 6-4 with 1:04 left in the second quarter. Mendelsohn’s third tally of the second quarter put Greenwich ahead of Brunswick at halftime, 7-4, much to the delight of the Cardinals fans, who cheered loudly throughout this thriller.

“I’m proud of the team, we took a beating last week and we worked hard, prepared and fought hard for four quarters and I’m proud of everyone,” Greenwich senior Jake Melley said.

The third quarter proved to be the difference-maker in this matchup with the Bruins outscoring the Cardinals, 6-1, to seize a 10-8 lead.

Greenwich opened the third quarter with a goal from Norell, making it 8-3 30 seconds into the period. That was the only goal the Cards managed in the third quarter, however, as the Bruins began staging their spirited comeback.

Sogaard-Srikrishnan began the turnaround for ‘Wick, tallying at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 8-5.

“Getting that first goal in the third quarter was important and then from there, we had to carry the momentum,” said Brunswick senior Jack Scafidi, who contributed a goal to the Bruins’ scoring effort. “I think it was really big that we kept our composure, especially with the amount of students that came. It’s always great to have people watching. I think the fact that we were able to keep our composure enabled us to win.”

Receiving goals by Blum, senior Ben Atkinson and junior Callumm Walker, the Bruins tied GHS, 8-8, with 1:44 to go in the third period. Blum snuck a hard shot past GHS senior goalie Leo DiLascia with 1:07 remaining in the third quarter, giving the Bruins their first lead at 9-8.

Sogaard-Srikrishnan then capped Brunswick’s big third quarter, scoring to give his squad a 10-8 edge heading into the fourth quarter of the Cardinal Tournament final.

“We made a few adjustments, their goalie had a really good game,” Iordache said. “The crowd was wonderful, it doesn’t get better than that. It’s really good for the town, for water polo – it’s amazing.”

Indeed, DiLascia made a number of key saves for Greenwich, which rebounded with a stellar fourth quarter against the Bruins. Hirt’s goal 1:51 into the final quarter brought GHS to within 10-9 of Brunswick. Sogaard-Srikrishnan made it 11-9 in favor of the Bruins with a tally at the 5:46 mark of the fourth quarter.

Koven made it a one-goal game again at 10-9 by converting a shot with 4:57 to go in the fourth period. After Blum put ‘Wick on top, 12–10, just nine seconds later, the Cards scored three consecutive goals to seize a 13-12 advantage.

Koven and Mendelsohn led the Cards charge, with Koven scoring the home team’s 11th and 12th goals. Mendelsohn’s tally with 3:05 remaining in the final quarter gave GHS the lead back at 13-12 and sent the noise level of the crowd reached a fever pitch.

“They’re a great team and they have a good bunch of kids, but so do we,” Koven said. “Last week, (the Beast of the East Tournament) we didn’t have the game that we wanted to have, but today, (Cardinal Tournament final) we showed that we can compete with them and we still have another game against them at Brunswick and I’m super excited about that.”

Saunders knotted the score at 13-13 for Brunswick with a goal at the 2;56 mark of the final quarter. After a key defensive stop, the Bruins went ahead 14-13 on another clutch Saunders goal with 2:25 left to play. Scafidi’s tally made it 15-13 Bruins with 1:01 left.

“It’s great to be able to play good competition and get close games whenever we can,” Scafidi said. “To play Greenwich High School – it’s always good spirits and we always get better.”

A Norell goal made it 15-14 with only 15 seconds remaining. In the game’s final second, Blum scored, making the final score, 16-14.

“The defense stepped up a little bit at the end,” Iordache noted. “We still made a few errors on defense, but we were able to bounce back every time and score a goal. Greenwich had very good shooters, they were inspired. Our shooters were inspired towards the end and I’m really happy how we finished the game and with our attitude in general.”

Said Sogaard-Srikrishnan: “It’s always hard to play in the shallow end, but I think that our defense got better once we were able to play defense in the deep end. That enabled us to fight back.”

Despite the loss, Greenwich left the game pleased with its overall performance and excited for the rest of its season.

“There’s always things that you wish you do better as a team, but I’m proud of everybody,” Mendelsohn said. “I think everybody played their very best. I have to thank everyone for that, the coaching, the crowd was awesome.”

“Our captains Leo (DiLascia) Luke (Mendelsohn) and Jake (Melley) really brought the energy and that made a big difference. It was a great team mentality.”