Upset bids fall short for water polo on senior day

ORANGE, Calif. - The Chapman University men's water polo team dropped a pair of games on senior day Sunday at the Allred Aquatics Center - 18-5 to No.14 Santa Clara University and 10-8 to Whittier College - extending the Panthers' losing streak to seven games.

Against the top-ranked squad in Division III, Whittier College, the Panthers stormed out to a 3-0 lead just two minutes into the game with goals from junior driver Dominic Tornambe, senior utility Alex Mulé and sophomore utility Pierre Masson.

The 3-0 lead marked the first time the Panthers held a lead since the Occidental game three weeks ago. Whittier (17-11) quickly came back to tie the game at 4-4 when junior attacker Rilesh Desai scored with 25 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Over the course of the game, there were four ties and four lead-changes.

Chapman (12-14) built its lead to 8-6 with 4:20 left in the third quarter when sophomore 2M Jake Ediger connected for his second goal of the game. Whittier then answered with four-straight goals over the course of the third and fourth quarters to secure the win. Whittier sophomore utility Uriel Villa and Desai combined for nine of the 10 Poets' goals with five and four, respectively.

Prior to the game, senior's Austin McElvaney, Colin Gasper, Matt Cullen and Mulé were honored. Over the past four seasons, the seniors have been a part of 49 wins, more than any other Chapman water polo senior class.

In the morning game, Chapman faced its fifth-straight opponent ranked in the top-15 nationally, and for the fifth straight game the Panthers lost, this time 18-5 to No. 14 Santa Clara University.

In its previous four games, Chapman has faced large deficits early in the first quarter but the Panthers kept the game close through the first quarter against Santa Clara (18-10) trailing 5-3. After falling behind 1-0, Chapman junior driver Dominic Tornambe evened the game one. After three Bronco goals, two by senior utility Liam Farrell pushed Santa Clara's lead to 4-1, Chapman answered with scores from senior utility Alex Mulé and junior utility Steve Neville to get the Panthers within one score at 4-3.

The game got away from the Panthers in the second and third quarters as Santa Clara ran off eight-straight scores highlighted by three goals from junior utility Nicholas Poggetti which built their lead to 12-3 en route to the 18-5 win. In the fourth quarter, freshman driver Ross Harper capped off the Panthers' scoring with his third goal of the season.