LOS ANGELES – The Occidental College men's water polo team hosted Cal Lutheran and Citrus College on Wednesday at Taylor Pool for its first true home games of the season and split the doubleheader.

Game 1: Cal Lutheran 20, Occidental 12

Samuel Akiyama (Aptos) scored four goals and the Tigers hung tough against Cal Lutheran—the No. 2 team in the nation—but could not overcome a slow start and fell short in the conference opener, 20-12.

The Tigers (3-11, 0-1 SCIAC) trailed 4-1 after the first quarter, but the team put together a solid game rest of the way.

Oxy drew four exclusions in the second quarter, converted two of the power plays, and scored four total goals in the period to keep the game within striking distance.

The Tigers added seven goals in the second half and outscored Cal Lu 5-4 in the final frame, but could not come up with enough stops to pull of an upset.

Jack Stabenfeldt (Larkspur) finished with a hat trick for the Tigers.

Patrick Maloney (Santa Ana), Joe Reynolds (Souderton, Penn.), Hank Franscioni (Salinas), Tyler Wilson (Palo Alto), and Jalen Lubbers (Grandville, Mich.) each added a goal.

Box Score          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL

Occidental           1          4         2        5         12

CLU                    4          6         6        4          20

GOALS SCORED:

Occidental-Akiyama-4, Stabenfeldt-3, Reynolds-1, Maloney-1, Wilson-1, Franscioni-1, Lubbers-1

CLU-Hamaker-3, Zappas-3, McGrath-2, Norheim-2, Novokvic-2, Hong-2, Ortega-2, Franklin-1, Craig-1, Jamison-1, Cadra-1

SAVES:

Occidental-Churchman-10

CLU-Mock-12

Game 2: Occidental 17, Citrus College 16

After a back-and-forth first half in which neither team could gain an edge, Occidental used a fast start to the third quarter to hang on to a 17-16 victory against Citrus.

Trailing 10-9 at the half, the Tigers came out firing. Reynolds and Stabenfeldt scored five goals in under 3 minutes to give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.

Reynolds, Stabenfeldt, and Akiyama combined to score 16 of Oxy's 17 goals in the game, and Maloney scored the final goal.

Akiyama also had a crucial interception with 45 seconds to go in the game that ate the clock as Citrus made a late push down by two.

BOX SCORE          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL

Occidental               6          3         7        1        17

Citrus                      7          3         3        3        16

GOALS:

Occidental-Reynolds-6, Akiyama-6, Stabenfeldt-5, Maloney-1

Citrus-Casteneda-5, Batchelor-4, Rever-2, Bustos-2, Gordon-1, Deamer-1, Quan-1

SAVES:

Occidental-Fish-11

Citrus-Shalabi-8