SCIAC Men's Water Polo Tournament
REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Water Polo team earned the No. 1 seed in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament after winning the tiebreaker over Pomona-Pitzer as Co-SCIAC Regular Season Champions. Following the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs will host No. 4-seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in the Semi-Finals at the Thompson Aquatic Center (TAC) Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.
The Bulldogs finished 10-2 in SCIAC play, tying them for first with the Sagehens. They earned the tiebreaker thanks to winning by seven at home and only losing by two on the road, giving them a plus five goal differential.
On the other side the Stags needed to beat California Lutheran University (CLU) on the final day to qualify for the tournament. Despite the win, they needed a tiebreaker to earn the No. 4 seed breaking a three-way tie with Cal Lutheran and Whittier College.
CMS then beat the Kingsmen for the second time in three days in the first round of the tournament as they advanced to the Semi-Finals.
In SCIAC play the Stags scored 156 times while allowing only 102 goals. Their best quarter was the third when they had a quarter-high 44 goals and allowed their fewest at 21. Their weakest period was the second when they scored 35 times, tied for the first for the fewest, and allowed 26 goals, the second most behind the fourth place team.
They are led by two 1st Team All-SCIAC members, attacker Nick Kennedy and center Luke "Bear" Weigle. Kennedy finished tied for eighth in SCIAC play with 16 assists. He added 18 goals, six drawn exclusions, and 12 steals. Weigle was tied for ninth with 26 goals. He was one of their most important defenders, drawing a team-high 32 exclusions and recording eight steals.
Redlands finished with 179 goals allowing 100 in their 12 SCIAC games. Their strongest quarters were the second and fourth when they were plus 23 in goal differential. Their 52 goals in the fourth were a quarter-high, while their 20 goals allowed in the first were a quarter-low.
The Bulldogs were led by four All-SCIAC members in Max Wagener, Roberto Barrera, Spencer Clinton, and Dean Moody. Wagener was also named the SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Year.
Wagener had a team-high 63 goals for 78 points. His goals rank him fifth in the conference and his points are 10th most. In SCIAC play he found the back of the net 36 times (third most) and had 45 points (sixth most).
Barrera finished with 147 total saves (seventh most) with a .359 save percentage (ninth highest), and a 11.95 goals-against average (GAA) (third lowest). In SCIAC play he totaled 80 saves (eight most), saved 49.7 percent of shots faced (second highest), and had a GAA of only 8.16 (lowest).
Clinton finished the season with 29 goals (fourth on the team), seven assists, 50 drawn exclusions (team-high), 15 steals, and three field blocks. He converted his shots at a 50.9 percent clip, the highest for anyone on the team with at least 18 goals.
Moody assisted on 18 goals in SCIAC play (seventh most), totaled 38 points (ninth most), and he won 53.3 percent of his sprints (sixth highest).
The winner of this game will play either No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer or No. 3 Chapman University on Saturday morning, November 23 at the location of the highest remaining seed.
