CLAREMONT, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Water Polo team (10-19) saw their season come to a close with a 17-11 loss at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament Semifinal Thursday night.
The Bulldogs, who were 0-2 against the Stags coming into the evening, began the game with a Harrison DeCourcy (Alameda, CA) goal off an Oliver Finley (Cape Town, South Africa) assist only :20 seconds after the opening sprint. The Bulldogs then held CMS scoreless for more than three minutes.
That strong defensive start, though, would not last as CMS scored at the 4:45 mark of the first, which was the first of seven unanswered goals for the Stags as Redlands found themselves down six, 7-1, with 6:15 on the clock in the second period.
On a powerplay in the final four minutes Ossie Joplin (Kentfield, CA) scored the first Bulldog goal in nearly 12 minutes. Despite a Finley goal with four seconds remaining in the opening half, Redlands would trail by six, 9-6.
In the first three minutes of the third quarter the Stags scored three of the four tallies with the lone Bulldog connection coming from Lennon Franklin (Redlands, CA) as they faced their largest deficit of the game, eight, 12-4.
Franklin scored for the second time at the 4:23 mark of the third in what was the first of three Bulldogs goals that took them into the fourth quarter within six, 13-7. The other two goals came from Franklin off a Tim Jensen (Elmhurst, Ill.) assist with :13 seconds to play and then Troy Barker (Roseville, CA) beat the Stag keeper in the final second.
CMS, however, put the game away with the first two tallies of the fourth as Redlands again found themselves down eight once again with less than four minutes to play.
Over the final 3:24 the Bulldogs did finish strong with a 4-2 run, but ultimately the comeback came up short. The goals came from DeCourcy, who finishes twice, Franklin, and Joseph Madigan (Arlington, VA).
After being held to three goals in the first 16 minutes, Redlands put eight goals on the board in the second 16, but they also allowed eight goals as their early deficit was too much to overcome.
Franklin and DeCourcy combined for seven goals. Jensen had two assists and two drawn exclusions. Kalani Nelson (Torrance, CA) also drew two exclusions. In goal Barker made five saves and took possession away twice.
Barker ends the season with 39 steals, the fifth-most by a keeper in single-season program history. He also had eight assists, two away from co-eighth place keepers. His 63 career steals are ninth-most and his 10 career assists are two away from eighth place.
The Bulldogs' season comes to an end as they needed to reach the SCIAC Championship Final in order to qualify for the USA Water Polo Division III National Championships.
