SAN DIEGO, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team ended the UC San Diego Invitational with a 3-1 record after their split in day two with a 14-6 loss to No. 6 UC Santa Barbara and a 18-10 win over Biola on Sunday afternoon.
With the split, the Sagehens end the early bird invitation at 3-1 including a win over No. 16 Loyola Marymount.
No. 6 UC Santa Barbara 14, Pomona-Pitzer 6
The Sagehens were led by Jack Mallery who was the only Sagehens with multiple goals in the game with two in the loss.
Santa Barbara got out to a strong lead to start the match as they outscored Pomona-Pitzer 4-2 in the first period. The Gauchos got the scoring going but the Sagehens immediately answered back with a goal from Dylan Elliott to make it 1-1 with 5:18 to go in the period. UCSB responded with three goals to bring their lead to 4-1, but the Sagehens got one back ending the first period with Kyle Green finding the back of the net to cut the lead down to 4-2 heading into the second.
The Sagehens fell behind in the second period after getting outscored 6-1 by UCSB. The Gauchos took a 7-2 advantage before the Sagehens got on the board with a goal from Sam Sasaki but Santa Barbara went into halftime with a commanding 10-3 lead.
The Sagehens held their opponents to just four goals in the second half but couldn't make up the difference on the scoreboard. Mallery got his first goal of the day in the third period and doubled his total in the fourth as him and Alexander Peterson found the back of the net, but it wasn't enough for the comeback as the Sagehens dropped their first game of the day to the No. 6 team in the nation.
Pomona-Pitzer 18, Biola 10
The Sagehens ended the UCSD Invitational with a big 18-10 win over Biola. Perterson led the scorers with five goals while Sam Sasaki chipped in with four.
The Sagehens and Eagles each netted three goals in the first period but it was the Eagles who got out to a lead early. The Sagehens trailed early but got back even with Biola as Sasaki score his first two goals of the match along with one goal from Green to end the first tied at 3-3.
The Sagehens took over in the second with a total of eight goals in the period. Sasaki netted another two goals while Peterson, Green, Keegan Coleman, Benjamin Sasaki, Matija Jancic and Jack Ryan all found the back of the net to give the Sagehens a 11- 6 lead at halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer grew its lead by one in the third as they outscored Biola 3-2. Peterson scored two more goal for his first hat-trick of the season and Ryan doubled his goal total for the game to extend the lead to 14-8.
Peterson wasn't done scoring just yet as he tallied two more goals to his total in the fourth while Jacob Cohn and Ryan each added one more as the Sagehens capped off the season opening tournament in a big way with the eight-goal win over Biola.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next participate in the Inland Empire Classic with games against Long Beach State and UCLA on Saturday September 11th at 10:20 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at CMS.
