CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 19 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team finished day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament 2-0 with a 10-8 win over No. 12 UC San Diego and a 15-4 win over Concordia.
The Sagehens were featured in day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament as the night ended with two ranked teams battling it out under the lights at Haldeman Pool. The Sagehens came into the matchup with an all-time record of 0-35 against the Tritons in Pomona-Pitzer Water Polo history.
The Sagehens were led by senior Timmy Hardman who tallied his second hat-trick of the season with three goals in the win. Junior goal keeper Daniel Diemer was a brick wall tonight against the Tritons as he racked up a season-high 14 saves.
Hardman had the hot hand in the first period as he tallied both goals for the Sagehens as they stayed even with the Tritons 2-2 heading into the second.
The Pomona-Pitzer defense shined in the first half as they held the No. 12 Tritons to only three goals. The Sagehens tacked on two more in the second with goals from freshmen Joseph Schafer and Jacob Niskey to push their lead to 4-3 at the half.
Pomona-Pitzer scored the first goal of the second half directly off of an exclusion call as senior James Baker snuck one past the Triton goal keeper to extend the lead to 5-3.
UCSD responded with a goal after two-straight exclusions by the Sagehens left the door open for a good scoring opportunity to cut the lead down to 5-4. The Tritons then evened the score up at 5-5 with 1:28 left in the third on a fast break goal.
The Sagehens reclaimed the lead late in the third period as Niskey found the back of the net for his second goal of the game with 15 seconds remaining to take a 6-5 lead with one period remaining.
After UCSD tied the game at 6-6, Hardman notched his third goal of the game just seconds later to keep the Sagehens on top 7-6.
The Tritons and Sagehens alternated goals on consecutive possessions until Diemer came up with a huge save with a man down to keep the score at 8-7 in favor of Pomona-Pitzer.
The Sagehens pushed their lead to two goals with 3:02 left in the fourth after sophomore Adam Ward put in his first goal of the match to take a 9-7 advantage.
UCSD quickly responded just 30 seconds later to get the lead back down to one goal at 9-8 but Ward came back with his second-straight goal to seal the game with a 10-8 lead with just 1:08 remaining. Pomona-Pitzer was able to burn the rest of the clock and locked down its second win of the season against a top-15 opponent.
The Sagehens started the day out with a 15-4 win over Concordia.
Sophomore Mark Hallman tallied his first hat-trick of the season as he led the Sagehens with three goals.
Pomona-Pitzer busted out of the gate with eight goals in the opening period to take an 8-1 lead after the first. The Sagehens shutout the Eagles in the second and third periods and added two goals in the second and four goals in the third to take a 14-1 lead heading into the fourth.
Concordia outscored the Sagehens 3-1 in the fourth period but Pomona-Pitzer held on for the lopsided victory.
Up Next: The Sagehens play three games tomorrow in day two of the Gary Troyer Tournament. The first of which is against No. 18 Air Force at 11:30 a.m. The Sagehens then have Caltech at 1:50 p.m. and finally Loyola Marymount at 6:30 p.m.
