SAN JOSE, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Water Polo team split day one of the Julian Fraser Tournament with a 13-11 loss to No. 12 San Jose State and a 20-12 win over Air Force on Saturday afternoon.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens moved to 12-10 overall.
Pomona-Pitzer 11, San Jose State 13
The Sagehens were led by
Zach Whitfield who netted a hat-trick against the Spartans with three goals in the loss.
Max Distaso and
Indigo Lee had two while
Chase Barman,
Nico Perna,
Conrad Hugar, and
Logan Colman had one.
Pomona-Pitzer started the MPSF with a hard-fought loss against the No. 12 ranked San Jose State Spartans. The Sagehens stayed with the Spartans for the entire game and even held a 6-5 lead at halftime.
The Sagehens matched the Spartans with three goals in the first period from Lee, Distaso and Barman while Whitfield, Lee and Perna netted goals in the second quarter to take a 6-5 lead into halftime.
The Spartans took over the lead with three of the first four goals of the second half to take a 8-7 lead while Hugar and Whitfield scored goals to answer the San Jose attack to make it all tied up at 9-9 heading into the fourth.
San Jose State netted the first goal with a response from Colman to move the game to 10-10, but back-to-back goals from the Spartans put the Sagehens down 12-10 with just under two minutes to play. Pomona-Pitzer brought it back down to one goal at 12-11 as Distaso scored with 48 seconds to play but the Spartans hung on and avoided the upset from the Sagehens.
Pomona-Pitzer 20, Air Force 12
The Sagehens were led by Lee who netted five goals in the win while Colman also netted a hat-trick with three goals. Barman, Hugar, and
Andrew Plaschke had two goals while
Connor Sullivan, Distaso, Whitfield,
Jack Ryan,
Tommy Ryan and
Liam Byrne with one.
Air Force stayed with the Sagehens early on in the game matching them with three goals in the first as Lee, Colman and Hugar scored to make it 3-3 heading into the second quarter.
The Sagehens' offense then took over with six goals in the second from Colman, Lee, Plaschke, Barman, Sullivan and Whitfield to take a 9-5 lead into halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer didn't led up with six more goals in the third from Distaso, Lee, Barman Ryan and Byrne and then came back with five to end the game in the fourth from Lee, Plaschke, Hugar, Colman and Ryan as the Sagehens ended the MPSF with a big win over the Falcons.
Up Next: The Sagehens will continue with games against LIU and California Merced on Sunday, October 27
th at 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
