CMS Men's Water Polo Picks Up Second Straight Dominant SCIAC Win, Defeats La Verne 15-4

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Ethan Lewis and sophomore Will Clark each had three goals and an assist as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team earned a 15-4 win over La Verne on Wednesday evening at Axelrood Pool.

With the win, CMS improves to 5-5 overall on the year and 2-0 in the SCIAC, with both wins coming in dominant fashion after also beating Caltech 17-2 on Wednesday. La Verne slips to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play. 

Senior Zack Rossman and sophomore Sam Harrison added two goals and an assist for CMS, while junior Nick Britt had a goal and two assists. First-years Kyle Ballack and Ben Weldon and junior Christian Thornton had a goal and an assist apiece, while sophomore goalie Matt Tran had seven saves and allowed just one goal in the second half. 

CMS held just a 3-2 lead after the first quarter before breaking the game open. Clark and Ballack staked the Stags to a 2-0 lead and after La Verne came back to tie, Britt gave CMS the lead for good with 37 seconds left in the first quarter. 

Clark opened the second quarter scoring with his second goal, before Guillermo Ocasio cut the lead to 4-3 with 6:30 left in the half. CMS then rattled off five unanswered goals to take a 9-3 lead into the break, a run which started and ended with goals from Lewis. In between, Rossman, sophomore Eric Warmoth and Harrison each scored to help the Stags break the game open. 

The second half started with Clark finishing off his hat trick to make it a 10-3 lead before La Verne snapped the run with 6:07 left in the third on a goal from Chucky Ortega, the final goal of the night for the Leopards. CMS built its lead to 13-4 at the end of three quarters and then tacked on two more in the fourth to make the final score 15-4. 

CMS will be back in action next Wednesday for a big road contest at Whittier, which defeated No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer tonight 9-3 to remain undefeated in SCIAC play, along with the Stags.