Thousand Oaks, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran Men's Water Polo team opened up a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and held off a Pomona-Pitzer rally to capture a 9-7 win on Saturday morning.
The loss drops the Sagehens to 8-16 overall and 4-4 in the SCIAC, heading into next weekend's conference tournament. Pomona-Pitzer was led by three goals from sophomore James Baker and two from sophomore Tommy Turner (pictured).
After falling into the early hole, the Sagehens came all the way back to within 8-7 with 1:43 left on a goal from Phillip Clayman. But the Kingsmen were able to answer back with a goal with 36 seconds left from Zach Graper (their first goal of the second half) to seal it.
The Sagehens got back within 8-4 with one second left in the half on a Turner goal, and scored the only goal of the third period (from Baker). A Stephen Vint goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter closed the lead to 8-6, but neither team could score again until Clayman's late goal.
The SCIAC Tournament will take place at Redlands next weekend from Friday-Sunday. The Sagehens will be the sixth seed and take on third-seeded Chapman in the first round on Friday at 5:15 p.m.
