LA VERNE – The Occidental men's water polo team lost a tight 11-8 match to No. 8 University of La Verne on Wednesday. 

Oxy came out strong behind first-quarter goals by sophomore Paul Bergevin (Los Altos) and senior Nick Heffner (La Costa Canyon), taking an early 2-0 lead.

Bergevin, who entered the game second on the team with 27 goals on the season, finished the night with three scores for his sixth hat-trick this year.  He added a game-high five steals to give him a team-leading 36 so far in 2014.

La Verne, playing behind a fired up home crowd, scored on back-to-back possessions late in the first and tied the score at two after a quarter of play.

Oxy's attack never let up as the team seemed to be on offense more often than not, but the Tigers failed to convert several scoring chances as they finished the night making just 8 of 34 shots on goal. 

Trailing 5-4 early in the third quarter, Oxy freshman Taylor Russell missed a penalty shot and the Leopards scored on the ensuing counter attack.  La Verne carried the momentum through the quarter and built a 10-5 lead early in the fourth.

Oxy then came storming back to cut the lead back to three when Bergevin and Heffner recorded back-to-back scores late in the fourth.    

With momentum returned to the Tiger side of the pool, Oxy went into run-and-gun mode, but the Tigers inability to find the net down the stretch proved to be the team's downfall. 

The two teams would trade goals in the final minute of play to secure the final.

Goalie Josh Needleman finished with 10 saves while Russell and seniors Sam Akiyama (Aptos) and Dylan Rothwell (Mechanicsburg, PA) each added a goal for the Tigers.

The team returns home to continue conference play against Cal Lutheran on Saturday November 8^th with an 11:00am game at Taylor Pool.

BOX SCORE             1^st        2^nd       3^rd        4^th        TOTAL

Occidental                 2          1          2          3          8

ULV                            2          3          3          3          11

Goals/Attempts: Bergevin-3/6, Heffner-2/4, Akiyama-1/10, Russell-1/5, Rothwell-1/2, Munet-0/3, Franscioni-0/2, Sinclair-0/1, Virshup-0/1

Steals:  Bergevin-5, Heffner-2, Franscioni-1, Rodrgiuez-1

Assists: Rothwell-2, Munet-1, Russell-1, Bergevin-1, Heffner-1, Akiyama-1

Turn-Overs: Bergevin-2, Munet-1, Rothwell-1, Franscioni-1, Heffner-1, Akiyama-1, Bass-1

Exclusions/Drawn: Munet-1/0, Russell-0/1, Rodrgiuez-1/1, Weiser-1/0, Rothwell-0/1, Franscioni-0/1, Heffner-1/1, Akiyama-1/0, Bass-0/1

Saves/Goals Allowed: Needleman-10/11