WHITTIER, Calif. – The Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University led Day 1 of the SCIAC Men's Water Polo Championships with an upset victory in overtime over the Panthers of Chapman University 15-14.
The rest of the schedule for the SCIAC Championships on Day 1 included:
Game 1 (Occidental def. Caltech 11-0)
In the Championship Play-In game, the No. 8 seed Occidental Tigers took on the No. 9 seed Caltech Beavers and came away with an 11-0 victory behind a strong offensive attack led by Stabenfelt who finished with four goals. Despite holding the Tigers to just two goals in the first half and putting out a strong defensive efforts, the Beavers were unable to find the back of the net.
Game 2 (Claremont-M-S def. La Verne 16-7)
CMS came in as the No. 2 overall seed and opened up the contest on a 4-0 run in the first quarter against the No. 7 seeded Leopards of the University of La Verne. After the Leopards added their first goal at the 3:31 mark in the second quarter the Stags opened up another 4-0 run led by Baeir. They took a 10-2 lead into the half. Coming out of the break, four exclusions were called early but La Verne was the only team able to capitalize pulling within seven. Despite closing out the third quarter with two goals to pull within six, the Leopards were unable to stop the Stag offense as Cullen and Holland put the game out of reach with two goals to open the fourth.
Game 3 (Cal Lutheran def. Chapman 15-14 OT)
In the match-up that proved to be the most entertaining all day, proved to be one of the best finishes in SCIAC Men's Water Polo History as Cal Lutheran came back after trailing 8-4 at the half to take a two goal advantage with 3:04 to play only to prevail by a goal in OT upsetting the No. 3 seed in Chapman University. The Kingsmen opened up the game with two early goals, but saw Chapman tally four unanswered to take their first lead 4-2. Chapman opened up the second quarter on a 3-1 run to extend their lead to 7-3 but CLU was able to add a late goal to pull within three until CU capitalized on a man up situation with 27 seconds to play to take an 8-4 lead into the half.
Coming out of the break, four straight exclusions occurred and Cal Lutheran mounted their comeback from there as Hamaker added two goals to pull the Kingsmen within two. CLU would again pull within two one last time with one second on the clock in the third quarter when Novakovic tossed in a lob that went over an outstretched Aanestad and it wouldn't stop there as the Kingsmen carried that momentum into the final quarter regaining the lead they had early in the first with four goals of their own led by Zappas that put them in front 12-10.
Despite holding a two goal advantage, the Chapman offense was difficult to stop down the stretch as they evened the score up at 12-12 with 1:10 to play. With both teams having good looks on goal in the waning seconds neither team was able to pull off the victory in regulation.
Chapman tallied the first goal of the extra period but saw CLU rally once again with three goals to regain their two goal lead. With 1:11 to play, Chapman added a man up goal to pull within one but after their final two attempts were turned away the Kingsmen were able to escape with the upset victory.
Cal Lutheran was led on offense by Hamaker who registered six goals, with two coming in the extra periods.
Game 4 (Whittier def. Redlands 11-9)
The match-up between the No. 4 seeded Poets and the No. 5 seeded Bulldogs, proved to be a battle to the very end and Redlands was unable to avenge their earlier loss in the season to the Poets falling 11-9. Redlands opened up the game holding a one goal advantage after one period of play, but saw the Purple & Gold go on a 5-1 run in the second quarter, with all five goals coming from five different players to go into the half up 7-4.
Both defenses picked up in the second half with both teams registering three goals apiece and despite Redlands outscoring the Poets 2-1 in the final quarter it wasn't enough to upset the Poets.
Whittier was led on offense by Goran Mataic who tallied three goals, while Cameron Rehm and Christian Sook totaled two each.
Game 5 (Pomona-Pitzer def. Occidental 15-5)
From start to finish it was all Pomona-Pitzer who came in as the No. 1 overall seed who took on Occidental in their second contest on the day.
Pomona-Pitzer opened up the first quarter with a 3-0 run and then tallied the last three goals of the frame to end the first quarter up 6-1. They then used a strong defensive stand in the second quarter to go into the half up 11-1. Despite Oxy tallying four goals in the second half it wasn't enough to upset the Sagehens as they went on to win 15-5. The Sagehens saw eight different players score led by Vni who totaled four goals.
The schedule for Day 2 of the Championships is as follow:
1. Game 6: 10:00am -- La Verne (7) vs. Caltech (9) (Consolation Play-In)
2. Game 7: 11:30am -- Claremont-M-S (2) vs. Cal Lutheran (3) (Semifinals)
3. Game 8: 1:00pm -- Pomona-Pitzer (1) vs. Whittier (4) (Semifinals)
4. Game 9: 2:30pm -- Redlands (5) vs. Occidental (8) (Consolation)
5. Game 10: 4:00pm -- Chapman (6) vs. Winner 6 (7) (Consolation)
