CLAREMONT, CA. – The No. 15 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team finished day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament with an 11-6 win over Johns Hopkins University and a 15-11 win over the United States Naval Academy on Friday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 9-3 overall.
Pomona-Pitzer 11, Johns Hopkins 6
The Sagehens were led by Riley Mangan and Jacob Niskey who each shared a game-high two goals in the win.
Kellan Grant and Douglas Webster split the game in goal for the Sagehens with Grant earning the win with one save and Webster also recorded one save as well.
The Blue Jays opened up the scoring early in the game with a goal inside the first minute to take an early 1-0 lead. The Sagehens came back with back-to-back goals from Dylan Elliott and Jacob Niskey but Johns Hopkins finished the first with a goal as the two teams ended the period tied 2-2.
Pomona-Pitzer opened up the second with a five-meter penalty goal from Joseph Schafer to reclaim the lead at 3-2 and Mangan tacked on his second goal of the day just 40 seconds later to push the lead to 4-2 with six minutes left in the first half.
The Jays came back to even the score after two-straight goals tied the match at 4-4 but Niskey netted a goal off of an assist from Noah Sasaki to give the Sagehens a 5-4 lead heading into halftime.
The second half was all Sagehens as they outscored the Jays 6-2 in periods three and four. Tony Murphy and Sam Gorcey-Biblowitz got the Sagehens on top early in second half and then Adam Gross and Mangan added two more after a Johns Hopkins goal to extend the lead to 9-6 heading into the final period of play.
Pomona-Pitzer's defense stayed strong in the fourth as they shutout the Jays in the period. Adam Ward netted a goal for the Sagehens just two minutes in to extend the lead to 10-6 and the Sasaki brothers connected for a goal with Ben Sasaki scoring off of a pass from Sam Sasaki as the Sagehens took their first game of the Gary Troyer Tournament, 11-6.
Pomona-Pitzer 15, Navy 11
The Sagehens were led by Ben Sasaki who notched a hat-trick with three goals in the win. Adam Gross, Dylan Elliott, Sam Sasaki, Noah Sasaki and Joseph Schafer also had multi-goal games with two each.
The Midshipmen came out and netted the first goal of the game but the Sagehens responded in a big way as they netted six of the next seven goals in the first to take a 6-2 lead over Navy. The Midshipmen came back and outscored the Sagehens 3-2 in the second period. Navy scored three of the first four goals of the second to cut the lead down to 7-5, but the Sagehens netted a goal just before half as Zach Senator found Ben Sasaki for the goal to head into halftime up 8-5.
Navy kept within striking range for the majority of the third quarter. Ben Sasaki opened up the third with a goal just 30 seconds in but Navy netted back-to-back goals to cut the lead back down to two at 9-7.
After letting the Midshipmen back into the game, the Sagehens scored three-straight goals from Elliott, and two from Noah Sasaki to extend the lead up to 12-7.
Pomona-Pitzer was able to ride its strong third quarter and tacked on two more in the fourth as the Sagehens ended day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament with two wins.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Pepperdine at 1:00 p.m. and Concordia University at 6:20 p.m. in day two of the Gary Troyer Tournament.
