CLAREMONT, CA. -- The No. 16 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team split their Saturday with a Sixth Street Rivalry win over CMS 12-8 but loss to No. 17 Cal Baptist 10-9 on Saturday afternoon.
With the split, the Sagehens move to 19-8 overall and stay perfect at 11-0 in SCIAC play.
How it Happened
Pomona-Pitzer 12, CMS 8
The Sagehens were led by Jack Mallery and Sam Sasaki who each netted a hat-trick in the win. Alexander Peterson also had a multi-goal game with two goals while Dylan Elliott, Keegan Coleman, Patrick Hughes and Adam Gross each had one.
The Sagehens started off the game with a powerplay goal by Gross to take a 1-0 lead before the Stags rallied for back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 lead. The Sagehens came back to tie the game with a goal in the final seconds of the first quarter by Sam Sasaki as the Sagehens and Stags went into the second tied at 2-2.
Pomona-Pitzer started to pull away in the second quarter as they outscored CMS 4-1. Mallery, Peterson and Coleman started the breakaway from CMS to take a 5-2 lead with under five minutes remaining before the Stags got their only goal of the second quarter. The Sagehens ended the first half with a goal in the final five seconds of the quarter by Mallery as Pomona-Pitzer went into halftime with a 6-3 lead.
Claremont made it interesting in the third as they began to battle back against the Sagehens. The Stags scored three-straight goals to open the second half and tied the game at 6-6 with 1:55 left to go in the third. After letting the Stags get back into the game, the Sagehens ended the third with two goals from Sam Sasaki to take a two-goal lead at 8-6 entering the fourth.
The Sagehens kept their foot on the gas to start the fourth and after goals from Peterson and Elliott, took a comfortable 11-6 lead with 2:28 remaining. The Stags didn't have enough left in the tank to compete with the Sagehens as Pomona-Pitzer completed their sweep of the Sixth Street Rivalry.
Cal Baptist 10, Pomona-Pitzer 9
The Sagehens were led by Elliott who had a team-high four goals in the loss. Mallery also had a multi-goal game with two while Noah Sasaki, Sam Sasaki, and Adam Gross each getting one.
Cal Baptist took an early 2-0 lead that forced the Sagehens to play catch up in the first. Sam Sasaki got the scoring going and Elliott followed with a goal, but the Sagehens trailed the Lancers 5-2 entering the second quarter.
Pomona-Pitzer had a big second quarter as they outscored the Lancers 4-2 before halftime. Mallery scored back-to-back goals and Gross followed for his first of the game to tie the game at 5-5. Cal Baptist answered the Sagehens' run with two goals in a row to take a 7-5 lead, but Elliott netted a goal just before halftime to cut the deficit to one at 7-6 at halftime.
The defenses stepped up in the second half as goals came at a premium. The Sagehens started the third with a goal from Noah Sasaki, their only goal of the quarter but Cal Baptist also scored one goal in the third to maintain their one-goal lead entering the fourth quarter.
The Lancers and Sagehens exchanged goals in the fourth. Elliott tied the game at 8-8 and then after a Cal Baptist goal, Elliott tied the game again at 9-9 with just under three minutes to play. The game-winning goal came with 33 seconds remaining by the Lancers to take a 10-9 lead. The Sagehens had an opportunity to tie and send the game into overtime but turned it over on their last possession of the game as the Lancers pulled the upset over the Sagehens.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next travel to Caltech on Wednesday, November 3rd at 7:00 p.m.
