Ethan Lewis, Noah Smith Sweep SCIAC Weekly Men's Water Polo Awards

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Ethan Lewis and sophomore Noah Smith captured the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week honors for the CMS men's water polo team for the week ending Sunday, Oct. 13, the league office announced today.

Lewis and Smith earned their awards after helping CMS to a pair of road wins last week, including a big 9-8 win at Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday, followed by a 15-7 road win at Occidental. It marks the second Defensive Player of the Week honor for Smith, who also earned the honor on Sept. 16. 

The duo was the difference in the second half of the win over Pomona-Pitzer, the defending SCIAC champion and the No. 2 team in the nation in the latest Division III poll. Lewis finished with four goals in the contest, including all three for the Stags after the score was tied 6-6 at the break. His final goal came with 1:48 left to break an 8-8 tie and provide the Stags with their final margin of victory. He also added another hat trick against Occidental, giving him seven goals in two matches. 

That goal held up as the final margin of victory thanks to two saves from Smith on the last two Pomona-Pitzer possessions. He finished the match with nine saves, five of which came in the fourth quarter, including a big one from close range with 20 seconds to play to enable CMS to kill off the rest of the clock. Smith added four more saves in the win over Occidental in the first half, before coming out of the contest at intermission. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday, when it tries to keep its SCIAC win streak going with a road match at Chapman, beginning at 11 a.m.