LOS ANGELES, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team came away with a win in their opening weekend as they defeated Fresno Pacific 12-7 at the Spieker Aquatics Center at the UCLA Tournament.

The Sagehens were led by Adam Ward, Riley Mangan and Jacob Niskey who eached shared a game-high two goals in the win.

James Kelbert and Kellan Grant split minutes inside the cage as Kelbert stopped seven shots and Grant ended the game with eight saves of his own.

The Sagehens got out to a great start as they quickly jumped ahead of Fresno Pacific. Dylan Elliott got the Sagehens on the board in a hurry with a goal within the first minute of play. Ben Sasaki and Niskey followed up with goals to end the first as the defense stayed strong to give Pomona-Pitzer a 3-0 lead.

Pomona-Pitzer stretched its goal streak to six-straight to open up the game as Niskey, Sam Sasaki, and Tony Murphy all found the back of the net before the Sunbirds scored their first two goals of the game to cut the lead down to 6-2 with 2:00 minutes left in the first half. Ward notched his first goal of the game off of an assist from Noah Sasaki as the Sagehens went into the half with a 7-2 lead.

 Fresno Pacific won the third quarter 3-2, the only quarter in which they outscored the Sagehens. The Sunbirds opened up the second half with three-straight goals to cut the lead down to 7-5 but the Sagehens responded with two goals to end the third from Ward and Mangan both assisted by Sam Sasaki to push their lead to 9-5 heading into the fourth.

Adam Gross got the scoring going in the fourth for the Sagehens followed by a goal from Fresno Pacific to make the score 10-6. Joseph Schafer and Mangan scored back-to-back goals for the Sagehens to put the game out of reach as the Sagehens earned their first win of 2018 in the UCLA Tournament.

Up Next: The Sagehens will next compete in the Inland Empire Tournament on September 9th starting at 9:00 a.m.