CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team defeated SCIAC opponent La Verne 18-13 on Wednesday night at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 16-14 overall and 8-1 in SCIAC play. The Sagehens have also now clinched the SCIAC Regular Season Championship for the second-straight season.
The Sagehens were led by career nights from Alexander Peterson and Sam Sasaki who each netted six goals in the win. Matija Jancic netted two goals for the Sagehens while Maxim Koretsky, Benjamin Sasaki, Nico Perna, and Dillon Joyce each had one. Jacob Shimon got the win in the cage in his second start of the season with seven saves and two steals.
Pomona-Pitzer had a big scoring first half against the Leopards as Sam Sasaki got things started with the game's first goal just over a minute in. The Sagehens and Leopards alternated goals in the first until Sam Sasaki netted two goals in a row to put the Sagehens up 5-3 late in the first. The Sagehens ended the first quarter with their third unanswered goal of the quarter after Peterson netted a last-second shot to extend the lead to 6-3 after one quarter of play.
La Verne came back strong to open up the second quarter with back-to-back goals to cut it back down to a one-goal game at 6-5. Perna, Peterson, and Jancic got the offense going again with three-straight goals to take a 9-5 lead before La Verne stopped the run with a powerplay goal to make it 9-6 with 3:30 left before halftime. Koretsky and Peterson netted a goal shortly after the La Verne powerplay and some good defense by the Sagehens prevented La Verne from getting any more goals in the first half. Much like the end of the first quarter, the Sagehens scored another last-second goal as Benjamin Sasaki added one more to the total just before halftime to put the Sagehens up 12-6 at the break.
Peterson got the Sagehens the first goal of the second half but La Verne broke their scoring drought with back-to-back goals before Peterson answered again with his second goal of the third quarter to make it 14-8 in favor of the Sagehens with just under five minutes to play in the quarter.
La Verne tried to get back into the game and cut the deficit down to 14-10, but Sam Sasaki added two more goals to his total, and Peterson added another to make it 17-11 heading into the fourth.
The Sagehens started taking their feet off the gas pedal on offense to wind down the clock in the fourth. La Verne scored the first two goals of the fourth to cut the lead down to 17-13 but the Sagehens finally got their first goal of the quarter from Dillon Joyce at the end of the fourth to seal the win over the Leopards.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next take on CMS in the Sixth Street Rivalry on Saturday, November 12th at 7:00 p.m.
