ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – In the third meeting in 22 days between the University of Redlands Men's Water Polo team and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), it was the Stags who would win their second-straight and third overall against the Bulldogs coming in the championship game of the 2023 USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championships, 6-5, on Sunday afternoon in the Midwest.

Despite the low scoring, the two sides combined to put three in the back of the net in the first quarter as the Bulldogs held a 2-0 lead with less than :10 seconds to play as Spencer Clinton (Cypress, CA) was setup by Ron Gvishi (Kiryat Tivon, Israel) on the opening goal with 5:22 on the clock followed by Max Wagener (Piedmont, CA) who found Gvishi for the 2-0 advantage. CMS scored with nine seconds left to make it 2-1 Redlands after eight minutes.

The Stags equalized only :42 seconds into the second quarter, but the Bulldog defense held them scoreless for the remainder of the half and Callum Norman (Johannesburg, South Africa) would give UR back the lead at the 4:10 mark as Spencer Sellwood (Irvine, CA) picked up the assist as Redlands took a 3-2 lead into the break.

In the opening four minutes of the third the Bulldogs' defense extended their shutout streak to nearly 12 minutes as Sellwood would make it a multi-goal lead for the second time, 4-2, with 4:14 left in the third.

Less than thirty seconds later after taking the two-goal lead, CMS would grab their first goal of the half and made it a one-goal game once again. That was the final score of the quarter as the two sides were held in check offensively for the final 3:53.

A power-play opportunity presented itself to Redlands in the second minute of the fourth quarter and Gvishi took advantage of the man-up situation as Sellwood found him for a 5-3 lead with only 6:13 left.  

After only allowing three goals across more than 26 minutes, the Bulldogs' defense would concede the final three goals. The first was their lone power-play goal allowed in the game, which came with 5:29 on the clock as the defense was tasked with holding onto another one-goal lead.

They were up to the challenge for almost three minutes until the Stags equalized at five with 1:41 left to play. Sellwood got the next opportunity to regain the lead, but his shot missed the cage and in the last minute CMS scored the eventual game-winner with :48 seconds left.

Redlands would get one final shot after a full timeout, but Gvishi's shot would get field blocked and CMS would hold on for the final seconds as the Bulldogs fell by a single goal to the Stags for the second time this season.

Gvishi finished with a game-high four points thanks to a pair of goals and assists. Sellwood was the other Bulldog with multiple points as he scored once and picked up two assists. Clinton started the scoring, but his defense was where he came up huge, recording five drawn exclusions and taking one possession away with a steal. Roberto Barrera (Guanajuato, Mexico) made six saves and posted a .500 save percentage.

Redlands finishes the year with a 22-10, 11-1 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) record and were named the 2023 SCIAC Co-Regular Season Champions. The 10 losses are the fewest in a season since 2008 when they lost nine times, and this is only the fifth 10 or fewer loss season since 1967. The 12 games above .500 is the best since 2008 and an improvement from the plus two last season.