Last second goal for comeback win over Whittier on Senior Night
CLAREMONT, Calif. – In the most exciting game played in Axelrood Pool this season, the No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team bested SCIAC rivals No. 2 Whittier College 14-13 on Wednesday night. The game featured the top two teams in NCAA Division III water polo and was well attended by students and parents from both squads.
Prior to the game, CMS honored four graduating seniors: Daniel Cogan (CMC), McClatchy Ruskin (RDS), Adam Hilborn (CMC) and Tanner Cullen (CMC).
The teams traded goals for the majority of the first half, the Stags always down one goal and needing to tie it up. Whittier earned two goals off penalty shots to take the 6-4 and then 7-6 leads. Going into the half, the Stags trailed 8-7.
Whittier had the largest advantage at the end of the third quarter, going up 11-8 off a goal by Mihailo Vuja for his only goal of the night. On his own Senior Night, Hilborn scored the Stags' ninth goal with an impressive backhand shot from in front of the Poets' cage. After the Poets' three goal lead continued to 12-9, CMS scored three unanswered goals, one by junior Alex Waggoner (CMC) and two back-to-back scored by junior Eric Bakar (CMC).
As time wound down in the fourth quarter, Whittier's – and the SCIAC's – leading scorer, Massimiliano Mirarchi earned his third ejection, taking him out of the game. Mirarchi, who has scored 28 goals in four SCIAC games, was held by the Stags' defense to just two on the night.
With 1:26 on the clock, CMS was down 13-12 and in a 6-on-5 situation. Head coach Greg Lonzo took a perfectly timed timeout to design one play to tie the game. The play set up Waggoner to knot up the score at 13 goals apiece, much to the Whittier fans' dismay. Urged on chants of C-M-S, the Stags earned a steal at mid-pool which led to sophomore Peter Tilton (CMC) to deftly guide in the winning goal with one second on the game clock. In a last-ditch effort, a Poet took a shot that glanced off the crossbar as time expired.
CMS goalie Rye Newman (CMC) had a big night as well, recording 12 saves, denying the Poets' potent offense time and time again.
With the win, CMS (16-7, 6-0 SCIAC) remains undefeated in Axelrood Pool in the 2015 season. The Stags next play Chapman on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m.
By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director
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