CLAREMONT, CA. – The No. 17 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team came out of day one of the Gary Troyer Tournament with a 15-12 win over No. 14 Santa Clara and a 14-6 win over Johns Hopkins on Friday at Haldeman Pool.
With the wins, the Sagehens improve to 10-6 overall.
Pomona-Pitzer 14, Johns Hopkins 6
The Sagehens were led by Dylan Elliott who had four goals in the win while Kyle Green, Patrick Hughes, and Andrew Plaschke all had two apiece.
The Sagehens won the battle of the birds with early offense. Pomona-Pitzer gave up the first goal of the game but then came back with all four of their first period goals in a row as Elliott opened with back-to-back goals and then Green and Elliott again to give the Sagehens a 4-1 lead before the Blue Jays closed the first with a goal to make the Sagehens' lead 4-2.
The Sagehens started to pull away in the second as they grew their lead to 8-2 after goals from Sam Sasaki, Green, Hughes, and Elliott as the defense shut out Johns Hopkins in the second to take an 8-2 lead into halftime.
The third didn't go much better for the Blue Jays as they could only come away with one goal while the Sagehens piled on with five more to grow their lead to 13-3 after three periods of play.
After building a large lead, the Sagehens eased off of the gas in the fourth as the Blue Jays outscored the Sagehens 3-1, but the game was well in hand as the Sagehens cruised to a big win in their first contest of Gary Troyer
Pomona-Pitzer 15, Santa Clara 12
The Sagehens were led by Dylan Elliott who tallied a game-high 5 goals. Kellan Grant picked up the win for the Sagehens as he stopped seven shots and one steal in goal.
This marked the third ranked win for the Sagehens this season as well as the highest ranked opponent that the Sagehens have beaten this season.
The Sagehens earned the upset win with high efficiency on offense to start the contest. Santa Clara jumped out to an early 2-1 lead but the Sagehen shooters were hot in the first half as they began to pile up the goals in a hurry. Pomona-Pitzer stayed with Santa Clara early and after Sam Sasaki evened the contest at 3-3, the Sagehens never looked back. Green and Elliott ended the first period with goals to give them a 5-3 lead and then the Sagehens went on to outscore Santa Clara 5-1 in the second
Keegan Coleman, Sam Sasaki, and Elliott started the second with goals, and after a Santa Clara answer, the Sagehens netted two more from Ben Sasaki and Adam Gross to take a 10-4 lead at halftime.
Santa Clara regrouped and made a game of it in the second half after they stayed even with the Sagehens in the third with three goals from each team to head into the fourth with the Sagehens up 13-7.
With the Sagehens riding a six-goal lead, they began to play conservative on offense and working the clock down to their advantage. Santa Clara made it interesting after they outscored the Sagehens 5-2 and only trailed by three with 1:15 left on the clock, but the Sagehens ran out the remainder of the clock and held on for the upset victory.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next take on Pepperdine and Wagner on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.
