Royce's OT goal lifts men's water polo to fifth straight win

ORANGE, Calif. – Another match at Allred Pool went into overtime and the Chapman University men's water polo team came away with another victory. The Panthers (12-11, 8-2 SCIAC) defeated the visiting Redlands Bulldogs 11-10 with the only goal in the second overtime period.

With the score knotted at 10-10, Redlands came up with a big save in the second OT. An offensive foul gave the ball right back to Chapman's junior Kevin Dayan. Dayan was one-on-one with the goalie after the foul but found senior Bennett Royce all alone on the other side of the goal and dished it off for the easy score for Royce.

The Bulldogs hit the post on their next trip and but Chapman did the same. In Redlands' final attempt, sophomore Wesley Hertel came up with the big save to preserve the lead and Chapman ran out the clock to complete the season sweep.

With the win, Chapman improved to 8-2 in the SCIAC with just four matches left to play and kept its stranglehold on third place.

The Panthers went down 3-0 to start the match but scored the next five goals to take a 5-3 lead into halftime. They led 7-5 heading into the fourth but Redlands scored four in the fourth to force the extra periods. Redlands' Kyle Jackson tied the match at 8-8 in the fourth but Nathaniel Fernandez found the back of the net with 1:22 to go to put Chapman back in front.

Fernandez led the Panthers with three goals on the night while Royce and freshman Hayden Reider each had two. Redlands' Jasen Swan had two goals and three assists in the match, including the equalizing goal with 23 seconds left.

The Panthers head to Cal Lutheran next Wednesday and return home on Nov. 4 to host Whittier at 11 a.m.