The Boston University Men’s and Women’s Water Polo clubs hosted our first annual Austin Brashears Invitational April 27-28. Austin Brashears was the men’s team captain and president before he lost his life in a tragic car accident last year while he was studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand. BU Water Polo suffered a huge loss that day. To honor our fallen comrade, we organized a tournament in his name.
We combined the tournament with our ever-popular alumni games. Former BU players from around the nation come home to play current players in an exciting battle. The players who started the water polo teams at BU usually return to view the progress we’ve made.
On the women’s side, Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Masters team compiled by head coach Liz Lacy, and our very own Cheetahs competed against one another. In the men’s division, Boston College, two teams of Metro players (a Masters team that practices at MIT; you can check out their page here), and the BU men’s team played each other in very exciting and fun games.
The Lady Terriers started the tournament playing our coach’s Masters team. Liz, who has been our head coach for the past year, led her team to victory. (Knowing our weaknesses, the Masters were able to take advantage of our goalie and defense.) The final score in the first game of the day was 9-5.
Next up, the current Cheetahs faced off with our beloved alumnae. Former BU players from near and far returned to Boston to compete. Even some of the ladies who started BU Water Polo came back to play with us! In a tight game to the finish, the current BU team topped the alumnae 10-9. After the game, we chatted with the former players. It’s crazy to think that this could be us in a few years!
In our last game of the day, BU played BC. With a historic rivalry and our alumni teams watching, the Cheetahs set out to make BU proud. In a back-and-forth game, we rallied against BC. Going in to the final minute, we were 7-7. However, with 37 seconds left in the clock, a wide outside shot by BC slipped past goalie Lia Breunig. BU was unable to score in the remaining seconds. Final score of the game was 7-8 with BC taking home the win.
In our final game of the tourney, BU defeated MIT 7-3. With MIT short on players, we loaned them a few of our own players to make the teams more even. Though the score was initially close, BU pulled away in the second half.
You can check out photos of our team, thanks to Curtis Hon of the Men’s team, on our Facebook page. Don’t forget to like our page and follow us on Twitter for the latest updates!
Thank you teams, coaches, officials, alumni, players, and supporters who made this tournament possible. We hope we made Austin proud!