CLAREMONT, Calif. – On the first day of the Gary Troyer Tournament, the University of Redlands men's water polo team (4-9) lost their first of two games on Friday, falling to No. 12 University of California, San Diego (UCSD) 15-5 before finishing off the afternoon with an 11-10 win over Mount St. Mary's University (Md.) thanks to a penalty goal by Oliver Finley (Cape Town, South Africa) in the final seconds.
Game 1 (No. 12 UC San Diego; L, 15-5)
In the morning at Pomona-Pitzer's Haldeman Pool, the Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 after another slow offensive first quarter as they have only posted two goals in their last four first quarters.
Just over a minute into the second period, though, Matthew Wheeler (Visalia, CA) found Adam Lambert (St. Louis, MO) on a 6-on-5 opportunity to get Redlands their first goal of the game.
Following a Triton response :44 seconds later, the U of R defense held them scoreless for four and a half minutes with Tanner Stagner (Laguna Niguel, CA) scoring Redlands' second powerplay goal with 3:38 remaining in the half.
The third goal of the game for the Bulldogs came from Stephen Ramirez (Pasadena, CA) at the 1:37 mark of the third as Noah Tikoo (Oviedo, FL) picked up his first assist of the day.
Joseph Madigan (Arlington, VA) scored another penalty early in the fourth with the fifth and final goal coming in the form of a fourth powerplay connection when Brady Bailey (Ramona, CA) found Zach Dortch (Alameda, CA) with a player advantage in the final five minutes of the game.
Lambert finished with a goal, two drawn exclusions, and two steals. Matias Sheridan (Honolulu, HI) made eight saves and took possession away once in his third consecutive full game played.
Game 2 (Mount St. Mary's; W, 11-10)
In the final game on the day, this one taking place at Axelrood Pool (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), the Bulldogs found themselves trailing by two against The Mount, 3-1, with Dortch as the Bulldogs lone scorer.
Lambert would make it a one-goal deficit at the end of one after Finley found him with 1:19 remaining in the opening quarter. That goal was the first of four unanswered by Redlands, which put them in front, 5-3. The other three goals came from Evan Keene (Torrance, CA), Nick Davidson (Honolulu, HI), and Stagner, with all three coming on powerplays, which ended up being the difference in the end.
Leading 5-3 at the beginning of the third, the Bulldogs allowed the Mountaineers to score the first two goals to tie the game at five. Davidson, however, scored on another powerplay to even it at six with 5:49 on the clock.
The Mount, though, shut the Bulldogs out for the next six and half minutes, while picking up two goals themselves to stay within one, 7-6.
Both teams traded goals, which kept the Mountaineers ahead by one, 8-7, before a Dortch assisted, Stagner goal with 5:58 to play in the game sparked a 3-0 UR run giving the Bulldogs their largest lead since the beginning of the half at two, 10-8. The second and third goals came on penalties with Lennon Franklin (Redlands, CA) and Jake Simpson (El Cajon, CA) each converting on their chances.
The Mount did respond, scoring with 1:08 and :29 seconds on the clock. After a Ryan Hall timeout, Simpson drew a penalty with six seconds remaining and Finley would beat the keeper for an 11-10 lead with four seconds left in regulation. On the other end The Mount were unable to do anything offensively and Redlands came away with the win.
The Bulldogs took advantage of situation water polo, drawing and converting three penalties to the Mountaineers one and then scoring 5-of-14 powerplays to the 1-of-9 for The Mount.
Michael Villagran (Glendora, CA) and Simpson each drew a kickout with Ossie Joplin (Kentfield, CA) doing so three times and adding two steals. Septime De Bonnafos (Marseille, France) made 10 saves and allowed only three goals in the first half. Nathan Gattorna (Carlsbad, CA) got the win with three saves in the second half.
Redlands ends the tournament on Saturday, October 3 with games against No. 7 Long Beach State University and McKendree University beginning at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
