CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team punched its ticket to the SCIAC Tournament Final after its 19-14 win over SCIAC opponent Whittier in the Semifinals on Friday night at Haldeman Pool.
The Sagehens were led by Dylan Elliott who led the team with four goals. Keegan Coleman and Sam Sasaki both also notched hat-tricks with three goals each, Benjamin Sasaki, Noah Sasaki and Matija Jancic all had two goals while Kyle Green, Adam Gross, and Jack Ryan all added one in the win.
The Sagehens started out strong in a game that looked in hand early on in the first period. Pomona-Pitzer jumped out to a 3-1 lead with early goals from Gross, Sam Sasaki and Elliott before Whittier responded with two of the next three to make it a one goal game at 4-3 with just over a minute to play in the first. Coleman and Sasaki added two late goals for the Sagehens as they took a strong 6-3 lead heading into the second.
Pomona-Pitzer traded goals with the Poets to start the second as Jancic and Ben Sasaki extended the lead to 8-4. The Sagehens then hit a wall offensively and the Poets came roaring back in the second with six unanswered goals to close out the first half and had their largest lead of the game at 10-8 over the Sagehens heading into halftime.
After a tough stretch to end the second quarter, Pomona-Pitzer got the offense clicking again and outscored Whittier 5-2 in the third. Noah Sasaki started out the third with a goal followed by his brother Sam with back-to-back goals while Coleman and Elliott each added one to the scoresheet as the Sagehens regained their momentum and ended the third with a 13-12 lead.
The Sagehens defense came up big in the early stages of the fourth quarter getting stops on the first three possession for Whittier. Coleman and Jancic found the back of the net to push the lead to 15-12 before the Poets added their first goal of the fourth to bring it back down to two goals at 15-13. Elliott and Ben Sasaki then notched back-to-back goals to give the Sagehens a comfortable 17-13 lead with four minutes remaining. Whittier got it down to three goals at 17-14 with 1:23 remaining but the Sagehens closed the door with goals from Elliott and Ryan to punch their ticket to the SCIAC Tournament Final.
Up Next: The Sagehens will host the SCIAC Tournament Championship against SCIAC Rival CMS on Sunday, November 21st at 11:00 a.m.
