BERKELEY, CA. – The No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team capped off the MPSF Invitational with a dramatic 17-16 win over No. 17 Loyola Marymount on Sunday morning.
With the win, the Sagehens improve to 7-6 overall and marks the second time that the Sagehens have defeated a ranked Loyola Marymount this season.
Jack Mallery netted the winning goal for the Sagehens with just 27 seconds remaining for one of his three goals on the day. Dylan Elliott led the charge with four goals while Mallery, Sam Sasaki and Adam Gross each netted a hat-trick with three, Banjamin Sasaki had two and Keegan Coleman and Noah Sasaki chipped in with one. William Byrne got the win in goal as he stopped 13 shots and came away with two steals.
A close contest throughout the entire game that only saw the lead grow more than one goal twice and saw six lead changes. The Sagehens took the lead first to open the game with a goal from Noah Sasaki but LMU came back and eventually took a 3-2 lead with 3:40 left in the first. The Sagehens came back to tie the game with goals from Elliott and Ben Sasaki but Loyola Marymount ended the first with a goal to take a 5-4 lead.
LMU took a 6-4 lead to open the second quarter, but the Sagehens did a good job of not letting LMU grow that lead any more as they responded every step of the way and eventually tied the game at 8-8 after a Coleman goal with 46 seconds left before halftime. LMU did net a goal late in the first half as the Sagehens trailed 9-8 at the break.
Pomona-Pitzer outscored LMU for the first time in the third quarter and tied the game late with goals from Elliott and Sam Sasaki to make it 12-12 heading into the fourth.
The Sagehens took their first lead since the early stages of the first quarter as Gross found the back of the net to give the Sagehens a 13-12 lead to open up the fourth. LMU recovered and reclaimed the lead at 14-13 but the Sagehens came back and tied the game at 15-15 after a Gross goal with 2:46 to play. Mallery came alive late for the Sagehens and gave them the go-ahead goal with 1:32 left to play at 16-15 and after LMU tied it up with 43 seconds remaining, Mallery came back again for the game-winner with just 27 seconds left as the Sagehens held on for the win.
Up Next: The Sagehens will return home for the first time this season as they host Caltech on September 29th at 7:00 p.m.
