CMS Men's Water Polo Falls to UCLA, UC Santa Barbara on Opening Day

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team began the year with a tough task of facing Division I powers UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, and came away with some strong individual efforts on opening day at the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego.

CMS fell 16-3 to UCLA and 18-8 to UC Santa Barbara, setting up a matchup with SCIAC rival Redlands tomorrow in the consolation round. 

Ben Weldon, Luke (Bear) Weigle and Cristian Pang had goals against UCLA, with Weigle earning bragging rights that he scored against UCLA in his college debut.

Thomas Walker had the only two-goal performance for the Stags, netting a pair in the nightcap against UC Santa Barbara. Weigle and Pang added their second goal in two games, while Kyle Ballack, Len Korol, Auggie Aliaga, and Donovan Davidson added tallies. 

Aidan Nettekoven had seven saves against UCLA, while he and Jake Taylor each had four saves against the Gauchos. 

CMS will conclude play tomorrow at the Triton Invitational, before returning home to host the Inland Empire Classic, beginning with a match against USC at 10:40 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Axelrood Pool.