The University of Redlands men's water polo team faced off against the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens on Saturday morning in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown in Claremont. Despite leading by one goal at the start of the fourth period, the Bulldogs fell to the Sagehens by a score of 7-9.
After trailing by one early in the contest, the Bulldogs created some offensive rhythm when senior center David Sekula (LaGrange, IL) put Redlands on the scoreboard by firing home a goal in the sixth minute. Freshman center Matthew Shippen (Santa Maria, CA) followed suit with a buzzer-beating goal that crossed between the posts with no time left on the clock, putting the Bulldogs up by a score of 2-1.
Although Pomona-Pitzer evened the count early in the second stanza, Redlands' senior driver Michael Robinson (Corona, CA) put the Bulldogs back on top in the fifth minute by hurling a laser past the Sagehens' goalkeeper for the 3-2 lead.
However, Pomona-Pitzer answered the Robinson score with back-to-back goals of its own for the 4-3 advantage. The duo of sophomore driver Zac Polmanteer (Long Beach, CA) and junior center John Koning (Poway, CA) allowed for the Sagehens' rally to be short-lived, as they teamed up in the final two minutes of the period to score two goals for a 5-4 lead.
With the Maroon and Gray up by one goal at the start of the third period, Pomona-Pitzer fired off a pair of scores in the early stages of the third stanza, making it 6-5 for the Sagehens. But the Bulldogs responded with Koning's two late goals, resulting in another small advantage of 7-6.
Unfortunately, the U of R offense struggled in the fourth period, while the Sagehens enjoyed a 3-0 run, resulting in Redlands' difficult 7-9 loss.
Overall, the Bulldogs drew six ejections in the defeat, with five different players earning them.
There were no goalkeeper records at the time of the release.
Redlands (5-19, 1-4 SCIAC) continues SCIAC play on Wednesday, November 5, when it travels to Thousand Oaks to take on the Cal Lutheran University Kingsmen (6-11, 2-2 SCIAC) at 4 p.m.
