Men’s water polo opens with split at Navy

The GW men’s water polo team split four matches at the Navy Open this weekend, defeating Fordham and the University of Toronto while falling to St. Francis College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The most exciting match of the weekend was also the toughest to swallow for GW. Three overtime periods were needed to settle Sunday’s affair between GW and MIT, as MIT finally won 9-8. Freshman John Hornberger and seniors Pat Dodge and Gur Doitel all scored two goals in the match.

The Colonials rebounded in their second game Sunday, beating Fordham 11-7. GW jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first half and took an 8-3 lead into the final period before holding on.

The weekend began Saturday against St. Francis, with GW falling behind early and trailing 8-4 at halftime. The Colonials never recovered and lost the match 17-7.

In their second match on Saturday, GW cruised to an easy 16-6 win behind freshman Julian Frince and junior Nicholas Koenemann, both of whom scored three goals.

The Colonials’ next action is against University of California-Santa Cruz on Monday, Sept. 15.

Boyle and Betancourt to share rowing responsibilites

GW temporarily solved its crew coaching vacancy recently by naming Helen Betancourt the interim women’s head coach, while having Betancourt and men’s head coach Matt Boyle share the program director duties, also on an interim basis. The decision comes after former program director and women’s coach Steve Peterson resigned to accept the head coaching job at Indiana University last month.

Betancourt spent last year as the novice women’s coach. It was her first year at GW after spending time as an assistant at San Diego State University and Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia.

Betancourt graduated from Brown University in 1998 after leading the Bears to two Eastern Sprint Titles and one National Championship during her distinguished rowing career. Betancourt was also named one of Brown’s 100 Greatest Athletes of the 20th century.

The upcoming season will be Boyle’s second as the men’s head coach and fourth year as a coach with the program. Boyle graduated from GW in 2000 and was named MVP of the men’s varsity team in 1999. He originally began his collegiate career at the University of Central Florida before transferring to GW in 1997.

Athletic officials said this coaching arrangement will be kept throughout the season, after which point the University will decide whether to remove the interim labels or hire another coach.