Senior day upset bid of No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer falls short with 10-9 loss

ORANGE, Calif. – With a chance to put itself atop the SCIAC standings, the Chapman University men's water polo team failed to hold a second half lead as the team dropped its match 10-9 to Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday afternoon at the Allred Aquatics Center.

A goal by senior center Jason Cox with 53 seconds remaining gave Pomona-Pitzer the win on just its third lead of the game, all coming in the fourth quarter. Chapman (12-14, 5-2) led for the entire first half and almost the entire third quarter, but a goal by sophomore attacker Clayton Hardman tied the game at 7-7 for Pomona Pitzer (11-13, 7-0) just as the buzzer sounded to close the third quarter.

To start the fourth quarter Pomona-Pitzer took its first lead of the game at 8-7 on a goal by sophomore attacker Stephen Vint. Chapman junior driver James Vigeant answered back at the 6:09 mark of the fourth quarter with his second goal of the game. Junior attacker Ryan Higgins put Pomona-Pitzer up 9-8, and less than two minutes later, junior utility Brett Carter tied the game up again which set the stage for Cox's game-winner.

In the first half, Chapman held two-goal leads on three occasions including at the end of the first half when they led 5-3. Freshmen Garrett Aanestad, Willis Allen along with Vigeant led the way on offense for Chapman, each with two scores. Senior GK Taylor Roszkos had seven blocks in net for Chapman in the final home game of his career.

Cox had a game-high four scores for Pomona-Pitzer. Chapman returns to the pool on Saturday at Whittier while Pomona-Pitzer has games against Air Force and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to close out its regular season.

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mwaterpolo/2012-13/files/PP-CU.pdf

by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant

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