CMS Men's Water Polo Takes Dramatic Road Win at Whittier in Sudden Death

WHITTIER, Calif. - Luke (Bear) Weigle tied the game with just one second left in regulation, and Kyle Ballack scored the game-winner in sudden-death overtime as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team came away with a big 14-13 road win over Whittier on Saturday morning at Slade Aquatics Center.

With the win, CMS moves to 8-10 overall on the season and 3-1 in the SCIAC, staying in the thick of the battle for first place, while Whittier drops to 7-11 overall and 1-3 in the conference. 

The Stags trailed 9-5 late in the third quarter, when Thomas Walker scored with 21 seconds left to help swing the momentum heading into the fourth. Weigle scored the first goal of the fourth with 6:07 left to pull CMS within 9-7, and Cristian Pang followed at the 4:56 mark to close the Stags to within a single goal. After Whittier answered, Eli Schwarz and Ben Weldon had back-to-back goals to tie it up at 10-10 with 1:54 left. 

Ricardo Reyes answered back with a goal for the Poets to put them ahead 11-10, and it nearly held up, but CMS called a timeout with 13 seconds left to set up a play, and Weigle scored his fourth goal of the game with just one second on the clock to knot it up at 11-11. 

Schwarz gave CMS its first lead since 1-0 with a goal at the start of the first overtime session, but Thomas Baier answered for Whittier before the first session ended. After the teams switched ends, Gavin Rosser put the Stags ahead 13-12, but Kaan Hamurculu answered back for Whittier with 27 seconds left to send it into sudden death. After Whittier was called for an exclusion, Ballack found the net with the game-winner for CMS to give the Stags the big road win. 

The win seemed unlikely when Whittier went on a 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead in the first half, but the Stags used a goal from Rosser to close out the half and regrouped after intermission. Walker and Weldon scored in the third quarter to pull CMS within 8-5, setting up the fourth-quarter comeback. 

Weigle finished with four goals, and Weldon, Walker, Rosser and Schwarz each had two for the Stags. Reyes led all scorers with five for Whittier. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Cal Lutheran for a 4 p.m. contest at Axelrood Pool.