CMS Men's Water Polo Edged at Home by Cal Lutheran 8-7

Claremont, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran men's water polo team scored the only goal from either team in the fourth quarter, breaking a 7-7 tie and taking an 8-7 win over CMS on Saturday morning at Axelrood Pool.

The loss drops CMS to 13-7 overall and 8-2 in the SCIAC, still good for second place but two games behind undefeated Pomona-Pitzer in first. Cal Lutheran improves to 6-5 in the league with the win, getting even with the Stags in the season series after CMS won the first meeting in Thousand Oaks. 

CMS trailed 5-4 at the half, and fell behind 6-4 and 7-5 in the third quarter before freshman William Clark (pictured) helped draw the Stags back even. He scored the first two goals for CMS after halftime, and then fed a cross-pool pass to sophomore Robert Driscoll to tie the score 7-7 heading into the final period. 

Wyatt Lowe scored the only goal for either team in the final frame when he converted with 3:43 left. The Stags had several chances to tie, but the Kingsmen defense was effective both blocking shots and stealing passes, with Ben Brown stealing one in the final minute. Noah Smith (six saves) blocked a Cal Lutheran chance to take a two-goal lead, and the Stags had one final chance, but Zack Rossman had his shot saved by Andre Rivas in the closing seconds. 

Charlie Thomson, Barron Banta and Andrew Wraith added goals for the Stags in the losing cause. Smith had six saves and allowed only three goals after halftime, but took the loss in the cage. Rivas finished with 10 saves for Cal Lutheran. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday when it travels to Whittier for a 7 p.m. contest.