CMS Men's Water Polo Slated to Finish Second in Preseason SCIAC Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team, which went to sudden death in the USA Water Polo Division III national championship match a year ago, is picked to finish second in the SCIAC in a preseason poll of the league's coaches, the conference office announced today.

Pomona-Pitzer, which captured the national title in sudden death, was picked to finish first with 80 points, followed by CMS with 71. Whittier was third with 59, just ahead of Cal Lutheran with 57. Chapman, Occidental, Redlands, La Verne and Caltech were picked in the 5-9 spots. 

CMS also finished second in the 2019 USA Water Polo Division III Championship, the inaugural year of the event, and returned to the finals in 2021 after a one-year pandemic hiatus. In order to make it back a third time, CMS will need to replace a deep senior class of eight players, including five of the team's top six scorers, who graduated a year ago. 

Leading the way this year will be Cristian Pang, who had 31 goals and 12 assists in 2021 to rank fourth on the team with 43 points, behind three of last season's seniors (Will Clark, Christian Thornton and Sam Harrison), who each earned All-America honors. Len Korol had 28 goals in his rookie season last fall, while Kyle Ballack ranked second on the team in assists behind Clark with 18.

CMS will also have several returning players with experience looking to expand their roles with the graduation of the eight-member Class of 2022. Ben Weldon scored 17 goals last year as a lefty attacker, while Gavin Rosser had 12 goals and 10 assists in his first season. Nick Maramica, Noah Weldon, William Thomas, Theodore Pasquesi, Auggie Aliaga, Harry Rinker,  and Ashwin Rhodes all are returning as well to provide CMS plenty of field depth. 

In goal, All-American Noah Smith graduated after a stellar career which saw him earn the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Year honor, but Aidan Nettekoven saw action in 11 games last year and had over a .500 save percentage (.507), giving him the experience to prepare for taking on major minutes this season. 

CMS will open play with a tough challenge at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational, facing UCLA and UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 2. The Stags will then open at home on Sept. 10-11 at the Inland Empire Classic, where the task won't get any easier, with USC visiting Axelrood Pool, as well as Concordia, Westcliff and Air Force. CMS will then meet Stanford at Whittier on Sept. 17, before opening conference play at Caltech on Sept. 24.