CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team fell in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Semifinals 12-11 to CMS on Friday night at Axelrood Pool.
Season Impact: With the loss, the Sagehens have been eliminated from the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.
The Sagehens had four players with two goals each as Riley Mangan, Joseph Schafer, Sam Sasaki and Tony Murphy each netted two goals in the loss.
The Sagehens got out to a huge first quarter as they outscored the Stags 7-2. Keegan Coleman and Mangan got the Sagehens out to a 2-0 lead and after a CMS goa, the Sagehens added three more goals by Sasaki, Schafer and Zach Senator to extend the lead to 5-2 with 1:39 left to go. Pomona-Pitzer added two more goals within the last 90 seconds of the first with back-to-back goals from Murphy to start the game with a 7-2 lead over the Stags.
Each team came away with two goals in the second quarter. CMS and Pomona-Pitzer alternated goals in the second as Jacob Niskey and Sam Sasaki each earned goals to maintain the Sagehens' lead at 9-4.
CMS chipped away at the lead in the third as they stopped the Sagehens from scoring any goals and then added two of their own to cut the lead down to 9-6 heading into the fourth.
CMS countered with a huge fourth quarter to battle back into the game. The Stags opened up the fourth with three-straight goals to tie the match at 9-9 with 4:28 left in the fourth. The Sagehens came back with their first goal of the second half by Mangan to regain the lead at 10-9 but the Stags answered with a goal to tie the game at 10-10. Schafer netted his second goal of the game to give the Sagehens an 11-10 lead but the Stags answered on their next possession to tie the game up yet again with 2:33 left to play.
After a failed Pomona-Pitzer possession, CMS scored the game-winning goal with 37 seconds left to play with just seconds left on the shot clock. The Sagehens had a chance to tie late in the game but a shot went wide as CMS was able to complete the comeback over the Sagehens.
