LA VERNE, CA. – The No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team exploded for 22 goals in their 22-13 win over Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent La Verne on Wednesday afternoon at Las Flores Park.
With the win, the Sagehens improve to 6-3 overall and move to 3-0 in conference play.
The Sagehens were led by the Sasaki family who combined for 11 goals in the win. Sam Sasaki led the way with five goals and four assists while Sam and Ben Sasaki each had three. The Sagehens had four players earn hat-tricks with Sam, Noah and Ben all earning at least three goals while Dylan Elliott joined the party with three as well. Kyle Green and Jack Ryan each netted two while Keegan Coleman, Timothy Mangan, Luca Bozzo and Andrew Plaschke each chipped in with one. William Byrne picked up the win as he went 32 minutes and had three saves while Kellan Grant also saw time in goal with four saves.
The Leopards and Sagehens wasted no time with the offense as both teams got out to a fast start scoring the ball. Sam Sasaki netted the first two goals of the game and then goals from Elliott and Benjamin Sasaki gave the Sagehens a 5-3 lead. However, it was the Leopards who ended the first quarter with the lead as they cashed in on three unanswered goals to take a 6-5 lead heading into the second.
Losing the lead late in the first woke up the Sagehens as they then went on to outscore La Verne 7-2 in the third. The Sagehens opened the quarter on a 5-0 run with goals from Noah Sasaki, Sam Sasaki, Green and Coleman to take a 10-6 lead. La Verne got two goals back but Pomona-Pitzer ended with goals from Ryan and Plaschke to take a 12-8 lead at halftime
After scoring seven goals in the second, you would think the Sagehens couldn't top that effort, right? Wrong. They went on to score nine goals in the third to blow the game wide open. They opened the quarter with seven-straight goals from Elliott, Noah Sasaki, Sam Sasaki, Benjamin Sasaki and Green to extend the lead to 19-8 before La Verne scored their first goal of the second half.
After two periods with a combined 16 goals from the Sagehens, they took their feet off of the gas and only added one goal to their total in the fourth as they scored a season-high 22 in the win.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next compete in the MPSF Invitational as they take on Cal on Friday, September 24th at 4:40 p.m.
