CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo Team lost a pair of games to end day two of the Gary Troyer Tournament with a 9-8 SCIAC loss to Redlands and a 17-11 loss to Pacific on Saturday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the losses, the Sagehens fall to 7-10 overall and start SCIAC play with a 2-1 record.
Pomona-Pitzer 8, Redlands 9
The Sagehens were led by Benjamin Sasaki who netted a hat-trick with three goals in the loss. Matija Jancic also had a multi-goal game with two while Kyle Green, Maxim Korestsky, and Alexander Peterson each had one.
The Sagehens got off to a good start in the early stages of the game after they jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first with goals from Sasaki, Peterson and Jancic. Redlands was able to keep the game close with a goal just before the end of the first quarter and went on to score the only two goals of the second quarter to take over a 4-3 lead heading into halftime.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 5-3 before the Sagehens came back with three-straight goals from Green, Sasaki, and Korestky to reclaim the lead at 6-5 with 5:11 left in the fourth.
The lead didn't last for too long as the Bulldogs scored a goal off of an exclusion and then another powerplay goal to take a 7-6 lead with 3:19 remaining. Sasaki and Jancic both got the Sagehens back to within one goal late, but Redlands was able to hold off the Sagehens late in the fourth to hand Pomona-Pitzer its first SCIAC regular season loss since November 9th, 2019, and first loss against Redlands since 2016.
Pomona-Pitzer 11, Pacific 17
The Sagehens were led by Sam Sasaki who scored four goals in the loss. Peterson and Conrad Hugar added two each while Maxim Koretsky, Ben Sasaki and Jancic had one.
A tall task for the Sagehens against the No. 4 ranked Tigers to end day two of the Gary Troyer Tournament started with a four-goal run by Pacific to open the first quarter. Hugar cut into the run with a goal, but Pacific led 5-1 to end the first. The Tigers grew their lead to 9-1 before the Sagehens earned their second goal of the night from Peterson to make it 11-2 heading into halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer netted two goals in the third from Ben Sasaki and Koretsky but Pacific still led 15-4 heading into the fourth.
The Sagehens had a big scoring quarter in the fourth after they outscored the Tigers 7-2 in the final eight minutes of the game. Sasaki scored four goals for the Sagehens early in the fourth while Hugar, Peterson and Jancic ended the scoring for the Sagehens, but Pacific rode their big lead to a win over Pomona-Pitzer.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Concordia on Wednesday October 5th at 4:00 p.m.
