CMS Men's Water Polo Wins Fourth Straight, Defeats Caltech 15-11

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Will Clark and CJ Box each had hat tricks as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team won its fourth game in a row, defeating Caltech 15-11 on the road on Saturday evening.

With the win, the Stags move to 11-9 overall and 6-3 in the SCIAC, solidifying its hold on one of the top four spots in the league standings, which receive bids to the SCIAC Tournament. Caltech, which used a late 5-0 run to make the final score look a bit closer, slips to 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the SCIAC. 

CMS led 6-2 at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as seven in the first half before settling for a 12-6 lead at the break. The Stags extended the lead to 14-6 midway through the third, before Caltech rattled off five goals in a row to close to 14-11 in the final minute, before CMS ended the scoring on a Harry Rinker goal. 

Box had two of his goals in the opening 2:17, sandwiched around one from Clark, to make it a 3-0 CMS lead early on. Ben Weldon and Rob Driscoll added first-quarter goals, and Clark scored his second with 47 seconds left. Len Korol and Andrew Wraith started off the second quarter with goals to make it 8-2, and Sam Harrison had back-to-back goals to push the lead to 10-3. Gavin Rosser had the final two goals of the half for CMS, which took a 12-6 lead into halftime. 

Box and Clark finished off their hat tricks in the opening minutes of the third quarter to make it a 14-6 game, before Caltech made some late headway to make the final 15-11. 

Noah Smith had 12 saves for CMS in goal, while Wraith had a team-high three assists and Driscoll and Eli Schwarz each added two. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday night for a key home game against Occidental at 7 p.m., which is in fifth place, one spot behind CMS in the battle for the final SCIAC Tournament bid.