SAN DIEGO — After stumbling a little to start the Western Water Polo Association conference tournament with losses to Air Force and Chapman University, the Occidental men's water polo team finished the postseason tournament and its season with a 14-11 win over the University of La Verne at UC San Diego on Saturday.

Joe Reynolds (Souderton, PA) had two of his game-high four goals in the fourth quarter to fend of La Verne's late rally and Tai McDermott (Palos Verdes) and Brendan Whitmore (Lafayette) each added three on the game, as Oxy (8-24) beat the Leopards (6-28) in the 11^th place game, avenging an earlier Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference home loss to ULV 15-7 on Oct. 29.

Reynolds, Whitmore and McDermott combined for three unanswered goals in the second quarter to give Oxy a 7-1 cushion at half time.

ULV went on a 5-2 run in the third quarter, but Reynolds stopped it with his second goal of the game with 28 seconds left in the period, then gave Oxy more separation with his third to open the fourth quarter, extending a comfortable lead for the Tigers. ULV would not come within three goals again until they added two in the last minute.

The win showed positives at the end of the season for a Tigers team Oxy coach Larry Zubrin said was resilient despite struggling at times throughout the season.

"This team went through a lot over the course of the season, but the guys stuck it out. 2011 was a tough season for us," Zubrin said. "A lot of teams in our situation would have thrown in the towel and stopped caring, but not these guys. They stayed the course, kept working to improve and kept supporting each other. 

Scott Churchman (Houston) made five saves in the net for Oxy.

The Tigers graduate McDermott, Whitmore and Richard Dybas (Los Banos).

"In the end, we came away with a great win, jumped a spot in the WWPA standings, and set ourselves up for a great future," Zubrin said.