CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The Washington & Jefferson men's water polo team competed in the annual Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament co-hosted by a trio of California schools.
The Presidents went 0-4 in the event, but played a quartet of close games. On Saturday, W&J saw its six-game winning streak snapped with a 14-9 loss against Whittier. The Presidents dropped a 10-8 decison to California Lutheran later in the day. On Sunday, Redlands disposed of W&J, 14-10, and Pomona-Pitzer topped the Presidents, 9-7.
Against Whittier,
Patrick Fredrick and
Carl Krause collected hat tricks and
Nick Willison tallied two goals.
Chris DeNunzio made nine saves in the defeat.
In the Cal Lutheran game, W&J fell behind 4-1 after one period. Four players scored in the second quarter as the team totals were reversed and the score was 5-5 at halftime. Cal Lutheran took the lead, 6-5, but Willison knotted the game, 6-6 with 2:15 to go in the third. CLU scored with 32 seconds left in the quarter and never seceded the lead the rest of the way.
W&J built a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes against Redlands, as
Mike Magdic, Fredrick and Willison scored for the Presidents. Four unanswered scores by Redlands, however, led to a 4-3 lead before
Kevin Dunigan re-tied the game, 4-4, with 3:03 to play in the first half. The Bulldogs tallied the final two goals of the half to take a 6-4 lead into the break.
Redlands built its lead to 10-5 through three quarters and W&J got as close as 12-9 in the fourth, but was unable to re-take the lead. Magdic led all players with four goals. Fredrick and Dunigan each added a pair of tallies in the loss. DeNunzio had six saves in the game.
W&J trailed 2-1 after one quarter against Pomona-Pitzer, with Dunigan scoring under one minute to go in the frame as the Presidents goal. Dunigan scored the only W&J goal of the second quarter as the Sagehens built their lead to 7-2 through 16 minutes. Each team found the net in the third, with Fredrick recording the goal for W&J. The Presidents mounted a rally in the fourth quarter, out-scoring the Sagehens 4-1, with two goals by Fredrick and one from McGrath and Willison, but it wasn't enough as the hosts held on, 9-7. DeNunzio made 10 saves against Pomona-Pitzer.
W&J wraps up its west coast swing with a 12 p.m. eastern game at Chapman on Sunday, Oct. 5.
