Five year drought ends; CU takes down D-III No. 1 Pomona
ORANGE, Calif. - For five seasons, the Chapman University men's water polo team had been unable to defeat Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, but that all changed on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers took down the top-ranked Sagehens 10-5 at the Allred Aquatics Center. Chapman last defeated Pomona in 2003 having gone 0-9 against the Sagehens since then.
Faced with a 2-1 deficit just two minutes into the second quarter, Chapman (11-9) ran off four-consecutive goals, three of which were scored by junior utility Steve Neville to take a 5-2 halftime lead. Sophomore utility Pierre Masson added the Panthers' fourth goal during the quarter. During the six minute stretch of the second quarter in which Chapman took control of the game, senior G Colin Gasper had three of his 10 saves.
The third quarter began with consecutive goals by senior utility Alex Mulé and senior 2M Austin McElvaney pushing Chapman's lead to 7-2. With just under two minutes remaining in the third, Pomona answered back with a goal by junior driver Ben Hadley making the score 7-3.
Pomona (10-11) got within four goals in the fourth quarter at 9-5 on consecutive scores by junior utility Ryan Balikian. Neville who is Chapman's second leading goal-scorer, then made the score 10-5 as he capped off the scoring with his fourth goal of the contest.
In addition to being the top-ranked Division III squad, the Sagehens are also ranked 20th in the overall national poll which includes Division I schools.
Score by
Quarters
1
2
3
4
Final
Pomona-Pitzer
(10-11)
1
1
1
2
5
Chapman
(11-9)
1
4
2
3
10
Pomona Goals: Balikian (2), Hadley, Hudnall, Moler
CU Goals: Neville (4), Mulé (3) Ediger, Masson, McElvaney
Pomona Goalie Blocks: Pokorny (8)
CU Goalie Blocks: Gasper (10)