Junior Colin Chiapello scored in both contests on Saturday (Paul Rutherford).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 9 Harvard men's water polo split a pair of games at Blodgett Pool on Saturday. The Crimson fell to No. 14 Brown in the opener, 9-7, before defeating MIT by a score of 11-9 in the night cap.

In the opener against the Bears, Harvard found itself with an early deficit after Brown took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Crimson responded with goals from freshman Bennie Seybold and senior Dan Stevens to draw even at 2-2 before the Bears ended the quarter with a 3-0 run to take the lead (5-2) at halftime.

Junior Colin Chiapello notched the first of his two scores, converting a nice hook-around shot to bring the Crimson within two to open the third frame.

Once again, Brown responded and increased its lead back to four (7-3) before senior Joey Colton scored on a penalty shot to make it 7-4.

Harvard carried that momentum, drawing within one of the Bears (7-6) with a goal from sophomore Nick Bunn and the second from Chiapello. Another late surge from Brown, however, put the game out of reach and led the Bears to the 9-7 victory.

In the second contest against MIT, Harvard took an early lead on a goal from Seybold after a nice feed from Colton. The Crimson added another score from freshman Charlie Owens, but trailed 3-2 after the first frame.

Harvard immediately went on the attack in the second quarter, scoring two unanswered goals to make it 4-3. The Engineers manufactured a score before the end of the frame to bring the game even at 4-4 at halftime.

Senior Noah Harrison started off the scoring in the second half for the Crimson to give Harvard a 5-4 advantage. MIT battled back to tie the contest at 6-6 before Harvard went on a run to put its opponent away.

Owens beat the Engineers' goaltender to give Harvard back the lead, and Chiapello added another score to increase the Crimson lead to 9-6. Colton extended the advantage to five, scoring on a long strike to make it 11-6 and secure the victory for Harvard.

Harvard water polo will return to action when it hosts the Harvard Invitational on Oct. 15-16. The Crimson is slated to play against the University of Toronto, Wagner, Bucknell and Dartmouth during the tournament.