LOS ANGELES – No. 10 Occidental College men's water polo team gave up four goals in the first three minutes to the No. 5 Redlands and struggled to recover before falling 17-6 in the first conference match of the season.

With starters Jack Stabenfeldt and Nathanial Whitmore both unable to play due to injuries, the Tigers relied on their youth to step in and fill the gaps.

Freshman goalie Adam Florsheim put up an admirable effort with seven first half saves, but the Bulldog counter attack was too much for Oxy to overcome. 

The Tigers managed to cut the Bulldog lead to 4-2 after Samuel Akiyama and Kevin Coleman scored on back-to-back possessions, but that was as close as it would get. 

Akiyama would finish with a team high three goals, recording his seventh hat-trick of the season, and running his season total to a team-leading 33 goals in 17 games this season.

Trailing 11-5 at the half, the Tigers turned to senior goalie Patrick Fish to shore up the defense. The co-captain responded with eight second half saves while holding Redlands to just six goals.

Unfortunately the Tiger offense sputtered over the final two frames, managing just one goal.

Dylan Rothwell and Nick Heffner rounded out Oxy's scoring with one goal apiece, while Coleman managed to draw a game-high five exclusions and dish out three assists.

Despite the loss Oxy coach Larry Zubrin remains optimistic about his team's chances moving forward.

"We've had a tough go of it so far, and coming into today's game being a little banged up didn't make it any easier, but I was impressed with the way the guys continued to push forward," Zubrin said. It would be easy for a team in our position to roll over and write the season off, but I feel like we've still got a lot of fight in us and our time will come."

The Tigers continue with SCIAC play on Saturday at No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m.