SAN DIEGO, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team jumped out to a 2-0 start to their 2021 season with a 15-9 win over Westcliff and a 10-7 win over No. 16 Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon at the UC San Diego Invitational.
The Sagehens had their offense going in the first half as they totaled 10 goals against Westcliff. Pomona-Pitzer came out strong with a 3-0 lead after two goals from Alexander Peterson and one from Elliott before Westcliff could get their first goal of the game to cut the score down to 3-1 with 3:55 left in the first. Dylan Elliott added one more in the first and Keegan Coleman notched his first goal of the day to cap off a 5-1 Sagehen lead heading into the second period.
The Sagehens kept the offense even in the second period as they scored five goals again in the second. Matija Jancic started off the period with his first collegiate goal for the Sagehens while Benjamin Sasaki and Jack Mallery scored their first goals of the day to push to lead to 8-3. Elliott capped off the first half with two more goal to bring his tally to four on the day as the Sagehens went into halftime with a 10-4 lead.
The Sagehens kept the offense rolling in the third with their third-straight five-goal period. Sam Sasaki opened up the second half with his first goal while scores from Coleman, Kyle Green, Ben Sasaki and Andrew Plaschke capped off the scoring for the Sagehens in the third period.
Pomona-Pitzer did not score a goal in the fourth, but built a good enough lead to cruise to victory in game one of the UCSD Invitational.
Pomona-Pitzer 10, Loyola Marymount 7
The Sagehens got their first ranked win of 2021 in game two of the season with the win over Loyola Marymount.
The Sagehens got out to an early lead in the first with goals from Adam Gross and two goals from Keegan Coleman to take a 3-1 lead. Loyola Marymount outscored the Sagehens 3-2 in the second quarter but goals from Benjamin Sasaki and Noah Sasaki kept the Sagehens on top 5-4 heading into halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer preserved its lead in the second half. Gross got the scoring going in the third quarter and the Sagehens remained on top after goals from Sam Sasaki and Green to take a 8-6 lead heading into the fourth.
The Sagehen defense stepped up in the fourth period and only allowed one Loyola Marymount goal. That goal started off the fourth period to cut the lead down to just one goal at 8-7, but Peterson and Sam Sasaki took care of the offense in the fourth and the Sagehens held on to upset Loyola Marymount 10-7 .
Up Next: The Sagehens have two more games in the UCSD Invitational as they take on Santa Barbara at 9:20 a.m. and Biola at 2:40 p.m.
