Eight-Goal Third Quarter Leads CMS Men's Water Polo to 13-7 Win over La Verne

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team led 4-1 at the half, but broke it wide open with eight goals in the third quarter as it went on to capture a 13-7 win over La Verne on Saturday afternoon at Axelrood Pool.

Five players had multiple-goal games for the Stags, led by Len Korol with three. Will Clark, Christian Thornton, Kyle Ballack and Cristian Pang each had two for CMS, which wins its third straight game and improves to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in the SCIAC. 

CMS led 4-0 after the first quarter, but did not score in the second as it went into the half sputtering a bit on offense, but still leading 4-1. That changed in a hurry after intermission, as the Stags scored eight times in just over six minutes.  Thornton started it with 6:45 left to make it a 5-1 game, and Korol and Pang scored on the next two possessions to push it to 7-1.

Rob Driscoll made it an 8-1 lead before La Verne scored two straight, but Ballack scored and Korol added two to make it a 12-4 lead after three quarters. Sam Harrison scored the final goal for CMS in the first minute of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 13-4, before the Leopards scored the final three goals of the game. 

Will Clark got CMS off to a strong start with a goal on the first possession, and he added a second goal at the 4:00 mark to make it a 2-0 Stag lead. Ballack scored 20 seconds later, and Pang capped off the first quarter with a goal with 38 seconds left, making it a 4-0 CMS advantage. 

The Stags will return to action in one week when they travel to face Caltech, looking to extend their winning streak to four games. They will next be at home at Axelrood Pool a week from Wednesday, facing Occidental at 7 p.m.