WHITTIER, Calif. – The top two seeds in Pomona-Pitzer (1) and Claremont-M-S (2) earned their way into the SCIAC Championship game by defeating Whittier (15-11) and Cal Lutheran (13-9), each respectively in the semi-finals in Day 2 of the SCIAC Men's Water Polo Championships.
The rest of the schedule on Day 2 for the SCIAC Championships included:
Game 1 (La Verne def. Caltech 13-7)
For the consolation play in game, La Verne pulled out a 13-7 victory over the Beavers of Caltech to earn a spot in the fifth game on the day against Chapman University. The Leopards opened up the game tallying five goals in the first quarter, while holding the Beavers scoreless. In the second quarter, La Verne outscored CIT 3-1 to go into the half up 7-1. Coming out of the break, Caltech found their offensive tempo and outscored the Leopards 3-2 to pull within five. The Beavers didn't stop there and continued to fight getting another three goals in the fourth quarter, but in the end they were unable to get key stops down the stretch allowing La Verne to escape with the victory.
ULV saw twelve different players score, led by Aaron Avalos who tallied two. Caltech finished strongly behind the arm of Brian Penserini who finished with a game high 4 goals.
Game 2 (Claremont-M-S def. Cal Lutheran 13-9)
In one of two semi-finals on the day, Claremont-M-S found themselves in a battle with the six seeded Kingsmen early, but pulled away late to earn yet another trip to the SCIAC Championship scene. Cal Lutheran who was looking for their second straight upset victory after knocking off Chapman in Day 1 of the Championships, jumped out early with a goal from Baldwin but saw CMS tally five unanswered to close out the frame led by Middlesworth (2). CLU tallied the first goal of the second quarter but again saw the Stags go on a run scoring back to back to back to extend their lead to 8-2 going into the half.
Coming out of the break, the Kingsmen found their offense adding once again the first goal of the quarter but was only able to find the back of the net with two seconds to play evening the goals scored at 2-2. This proved to be a factor going into the final quarter as CLU tacked on five goals (2 Early; 3 Late) but it wasn't enough as CMS added three themselves to pull off the victory 13-9.
The Stags were led by Holland who finished with 4 goals, while the Kingsmen' Baldwin and Novakovic finished with two goals apiece.
Game 3 (Pomona-Pitzer def. Whittier 15-11)
In the feature match-up on the day, the Poets took on the Sagehens trying to avenge their previous loss in the season but it was all Pomona-Pitzer as they used a 6 goal effort in the second quarter that helped propel them to the four goal victory. The first quarter went back and forth with Pomona-Pitzer holding a one goal advantage thanks to Gaut who totaled two goals, while Cameron Rehm and Goran Mataic kept the Purple & Gold close.
Despite a raucous home crowd, the Sagehens managed to open the second quarter on a 5-1 run that extended their lead to 8-3 and after back to back goals from Douglas Marriott and Michael Eachus the Poets saw themselves pull within three, but in the final five seconds, the Sagehens were able to capitalize on a man-up situation that sent them into the half up 9-5.
Opening up the third quarter, Whittier tacked on two early thanks to Kyle Catino, before Pomona-Pitzer got yet another man up goal at the 1:52 mark that kept the score at a three goal advantage. In a high scoring fourth quarter, Whittier saw themselves playing cath-up as the Sagehens opened up the frame with two goals from Cox and Hardman until Whittier's Mataic stopped the run with a goal to keep the Poets in striking distance.
In the final 2:14 the Poets managed to secure three more goals from Mataic, Marriott, and Erick Bonander but it wasn't enough as Pomona –Pitzer added another three goals late to secure the victory.
Game 4 (Redlands def. Occidental 21-6)
From start to finish it was all Redlands as they dominated both ends of the pool. The Bulldogs who were coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Poets yesterday afternoon opened up on a 3-0 run and after a goal from the Tigers' Stabenfelt, UR finished the quarter off on a 5-0 run. Redlands didn't stop there and added the first two goals of the second quarter to extend their lead to 10-1 until Oxy's Reynolds stopped the bleeding at the 6:06 mark.
Once again following a Tiger goal, the maroon and silver opened up a 4-0 run that pushed them in front once again by double digits 14-2. Occidental did however manage two goals late in the frame that gave them momentum going into the half. Coming out in the third, the Bulldogs began running away with the game scoring four unanswered to go up 18-4 taking a big lead into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Oxy managed one more goal from Heffner but that's all the offense they would muster as the Bulldogs added another two goals to push them into the 5th place game.
On offense, Redlands saw 13 players score with Robinson leading the way with a game high four goals.
Game 5 (La Verne def. Chapman 14-10)
In the last game of the day, La Verne managed to pull off the second upset of the tournament knocking off Chapman University who dropped their second game to a lower seeded opponent in the past two days. In a seesaw battle that went both ways, La Verne managed to attack first jumping out early 1-0 and maintaining a three goal lead to close out the first quarter thanks to three man up conversions.
They continued with that momentum heading into the second quarter when they rattled off three straight goals to extend their lead to 8-2. In the final 1:34 the Panthers managed to string together two goals to close out the half from Alvarado and Van Wolvelaeve. This cut the score in half at 8-4 until the Leopards used a 5-1 run in the third quarter to open up an eight goal lead that was too difficult for the Panthers to overcome despite a 5-1 run of their own in the fourth.
La Verne was led on offense by Jarvis who tallied five goals, while Chapman' Middlesworth finished with three.
The schedule for Day 3 of the Championships is as follows:
1. Game 11: 9:00am -- Occidental vs. Chapman (7th Place)
2. Game 12: 10:30am -- Redlands vs. La Verne (5th Place)
3. Game 13: 12:00pm -- Cal Lutheran vs. Whittier (3rd Place)
4. Game 14: 1:30pm -- Claremont-M-S vs. Pomona-Pitzer (Championship)
