CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team split in day one of the Inland Empire Tournament with a 13-10 win over Concordia and a 19-8 loss to Division I Powerhouse USC on Saturday afternoon at Axelrood Pool.
Season Impact: With the split, the Sagehens move to 4-2 on the year.
Pomona-Pitzer 13, Concordia 10
The Sagehens were led by Sam Sasaki, Benjamin Sasaki, Andrew Plaschke and Nico Perna who all shared a team-high with two goals in the win. Liam Byrne earned the win in the cage for the Sagehens with eight saves and one steal to secure the victory.
It was the Eagles who took the early lead after netting their first goal just over a minute into the first quarter, but Ben Sasaki responded with a goal on a powerplay to even the score at 1-1. Concordia reclaimed the lead at 2-1, but the Sagehens took advantage of another powerplay with Jack Ryan evening the score again at 2-2. After getting back to even with 3:20 left in the first, the Sagehens ended the quarter with two unanswered goals by Timothy Mangan and Perna to take 4-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Eagles had a powerplay of their own to open the second quarter and converted a goal with a man up to cut the lead don to 4-3 until Kyle Green answered for the Sagehens to keep the lead at two goals up 5-3. The Sagehens went on to score two of the final three goals of the first half as Perna and Maxim Koretsky netted goals to take a 7-4 lead into the break.
The Sagehens had their best scoring quarter of the game in the third as they notched five goals in the third quarter alone. Ben Sasaki started the scoring in the fourth, but the Eagles responded with back-to-back goals to cut into the Sagehens' lead at 8-6. Pomona-Pitzer went on to score two-straight from Plaschke and Jacob Whiting followed by two from the Eagles again to keep the score at a two-goal lead, 10-8. Each team ended the third with a goal as Sam Sasaki notched a goal with 44 seconds to play in the third and the Eagles cut it back to two with 10 seconds left in the third to make it 11-9 with one quarter to play.
Pomona-Pitzer scored the opening goal of the fourth after Sam Sasaki put the Sagehens up three with 6:19 left to play. Concordia made a late put to get the lead down to two with 1:50 remaining in the game, but Plaschke ended all hope of a comeback by the Eagles with a late goal in the fourth to cap off a win in game one of the Inland Empire Tournament.
Pomona-Pitzer 8, USC 19
The Sagehens were led by Sam Sasaki who netted a hat-trick against the Trojans in the loss. Whiting netted two goals while Koretsky, Ben Sasaki, and Plaschke all had one.
Pomona-Pitzer got in a hole early in the first quarter after USC netted the first six goals of the game to get out to a 6-0 lead. Sam Sasaki netted the first goal of the game for the Sagehens late in the first quarter to cut into the lead at 6-1 heading into the second. The Sagehens and Trojans alternated goals in the second as Ben Sasaki and Whiting scored goals in the second, but the Trojans took a 12-3 lead into halftime.
The Sagehens went on to outscore USC in the fourth quarter 5-2 with Plaschke, Sam Sasaki, Whiting, and Koretsky all netting goals in the final quester, but USC came away with the 19-8 win.
Up Next: The Sagehens will continue the IE Tournament as they take on Air Force and Westcliff on Sunday, September 10th beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Axelrood Pool.
