LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct. 31, 2009) – Early in the morning Occidental College led Cal Lutheran University in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference water polo action, but a 5-1 second quarter let the Kingsmen to a two-goal half-time lead that they would not relinquish, handing the Tigers a 15-13 loss at Taylor Pool.

Oxy took a lead in the opening quarter behind two goals from Brendan Whitmore. Greg Benz then scored the lone Tigers' goal in the second period just under a minute into the quarter. CLU then went on a 5-0 tear to take a 7-5 lead at the break.

Team exchanged three and five goals in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, but a poor offensive showing in the second period seemed too much for the Tigers to recover from.

A pair of behind the back goals from Austen Oliver and Tai McDermott got the Oxy crowd going as the stands were packed and the battle in the pool spilled over to the fans, who made the atmosphere exciting beyond the competition in the field of play.

Oliver and Joe Reynolds finished with three goals apiece while McDermott, Whitmore and Benz tallied a pair apiece with Richard Dybas rounding out the scoring. Oliver also drew a season high seven ejections, of which Oxy scored on four 6-on-5 conversion situations. Reynolds tallied a team-high four assists while Oliver dished out three.

Senior Kingsmen 2M player Matt Heagy led all payers with four goals.

As much offense as there was, the bigger picture saw a clash of goalies. In a game that CLU took 32 shots, senior goal keeper Max Kelly recorded 17 saves while Oxy fired 27 shots on goal with CLU goalie Jordan Bouey turning away 12.

McDermott stole the ball three times and Benz grabbed two steals in the loss while recording the only field block of the day for Oxy.

Occidental (7-14, 2-3 SCIAC) will travel to the University of Redlands (12-15, 4-1) on Wednesday, Nov. 4 to play the Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m.