WHITTIER — The Occidental men's water polo team won their second game in as many weeks and put up strong efforts against two nationally-ranked opponents at the Whittier Mini-Tournament last weekend.
Game 1: Occidental-17 Caltech-4
Pre-Game Notes:
-Oxy entered the game with a 17-game win streak against the Beavers over the past 11 seasons.
-Caltech, with five wins already this season, has already eclipsed the team's single-season best win total over the last decade.
-The teams last played on Nov 22. 2013, when Oxy defeated Caltech 13-6 in the play-in game of the SCIAC Championship Tournament.
Highlights:
-10 different Tigers scored in the game with senior Nick Heffner tallying a game-high three goals for his first hat-trick of the 2014 season.
-Freshmen Matt Otsuka, Mo Mills, and Matt Weiser, and seniors Dylan Rothwell and Scott Virshup all notched their first scores of the 2014 season. For Otsuka, Mills and Weiser, it was their first collegiate goals.
-The 17 goals scored were the most in a game this season for Oxy and the four goals allowed were also the team's fewest this season.
BOX SCORE 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 7 3 2 5 17
Caltech 1 0 2 1 4
Occidental Stats:
Goals/Attempts: Heffner-3/3, Meador-2/2, Munet-2/3, Mills-2/4, Russell-1/2, Otsuka-1/1, Bass, 1/1, Weiser-1/4, Rothwell-1/1, Bergevin-1/1, Akiyama-1/1, Virshup-1/3, Rodriguez-0/3, Franscioni-0/2, Woodland-0/1
Steals: Russell-3, Rodrgiuez-3, Otsuka-3, Weiser-2, Bergevin-1, Heffner-1, Woodland-1
Assists: Bergevin-4, Needleman-2, Florsheim-1, Rodrgiuez-1, Otsuka-1, Weiser-1, Heffner-1, Sinclair-1, Virshup-1, Bass-1, Meador-1
Turn-Overs: Rothwell-3, Russell-1, Weiser-1, Akiyama-1, Virshup-1, Bass-1
Field Blocks: Russell-1, Franscioni-1
Exclusions/Drawn: Heffner-1/3, Munet-1/0, Russell-1/0, Rodrguez-1/0, Bergevin-1/0, Franscioni-1/0, Virshup-3/0, Mills-1/0
Saves/Goals Allowed: Florsheim-9/1, Needleman-7/3
Quotes:
Head Coach Larry Zubrin on the team's victory:
"It was great to see the guys play consistently at both ends of the pool. We were able to utilize many of our younger players and get them important game experience which will help their continued development."
Freshman Matt Otsuka on his debut performance as a Tiger with one goal, three steals and an assist:
"I missed some time during the beginning of the season with an injury so I was excited to get the chance to contribute for the team. It felt good to be out there."
Game-2 Occidental-6 #1 Whittier College-13
Pre-Game Notes:
-This was the third meeting between the two teams during the first three weeks of the season. Whittier won the previous two games 14-3 and 11-9.
-The Poets entered the game as the No. 1-ranked team in Division III for the third consecutive week.
-The two teams will face each other again in SCIAC play on Oct. 22 at Whittier.
Highlights:
-The Poets used a seven-goal run in the first half to build an 8-1 lead, only to watch the Tigers chip away and cut the score to 9-6 early in the fourth quarter.
-Sophomore Paul Bergevin, Oxy's leading scorer so far in 2014, notched his second hat-trick of the season against the top ranked Poets.
-Reigning SCIAC MVP, Goran Mataic, led Whittier with four goals in the game.
BOX SCORE 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 1 2 1 2 6
Whittier 3 5 1 4 13
Occidental Stats:
Goals/Attempts: Begevin-3/3, Russell-1/1, Akiyama-1/4, Virshup-1/3, Munet-0/2, Rodriguez-0/1, Rothwell-0/1, Franscioni-0/1, Heffner-0/2, Sinclair-0/2
Steals: Needleman-3, Rodrgiuez-1, Rothwell-1, Bergevin-1, Akiyama-1, Sinclair-1, Virshup-1
Assists: Bass-2, Sinclair-2, Bergevin-1
Turn-Overs: Munet-1, Bergevin-1, Franscioni-1, Sinclair-1
Field-Blocks: Heffner-1
Exclusions/Drawn: Heffner-3/0, Weiser-2/2, Rodrgiuez-1/0, Rothwell-0/3, Franscioni-0/2, Akiyama-0/1, Bass-0/1
Saves/Goals Allowed: Needleman-4/8, Florsheim-4/5
Quotes:
Head Coach Larry Zubrin on matching up against Whittier for three consecutive weeks:
"Water polo in the NCAA is very small sport, so playing the same team several times in a season is fairly common. Whittier is the top ranked team in the SCIAC, so that's who we're chasing. The more often we play them the more chances we have of achieving our goal."
Bergevin on his success against the Poets so far this season (Seven goals, two steals and two assists in three games.):
"Coach tells us that when you're playing against the defending champions it's like playing in a championship game, and I like playing in championship games."
Game 3: Occidental-11 #4 La Verne-15
Pre-Game Notes:
-The two teams last met in the sventh place game of the SCIAC Tournament on Nov. 24 of last season, with Occidental winning 14-12.
-La Verne had previously played and beaten SCIAC opponents CMS (13-10) and Pomona (10-9) while losing twice to Whittier (16-14, and 19-8).
Highlights:
-Eight different Tigers scored in the game with first year standouts Taylor Russell, Dominic Rodriguez, Matthew Weiser, and Theo Bass accounting for six of the teams 11 goals.
-Four different Leopards posted hat-tricks in the game with Jon Jarvis, Matt Vega, Chis Jiminez, and John Vega clipping three goals apiece.
-With the score 8-5 in favor of La Verne at the half, the Leopards used a four goal run to start the third quarter and build a seven goal lead that Oxy could not overcome.
Box Score 1st 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
Occidental 2 3 2 4 11
ULV 4 4 3 4 15
Occidental Stats:
Goals/Attempts: Russell-2/3, Weiser-2/4, Rothwell-2/2, Munet-1/2, Rodriguez-1/3, Bergevin-1/2, Sinclair-1/2, Bass-1/2, Franscioni-0/2, Heffner-0/3
Steals: Russell-1, Franscioni-1, Heffner-1
Assists: Bergevin-3, Virshup-3, Sinclair-2, Rodrgiuez-1, Heffner-1, Bass-1
Turn-Overs: Rodrguez-2, Sinclair-2, Florsheim-1, Heffner-1, Akiyama-1
Exclusions/Drawn: Rodrgiuez-2/2, Rothwell-2/2, Weiser-1/2, Franscioni-1/1, Munet-0/1, Russell-0/1, Franscioni-0/1, Heffner-0/2, Akiyama-0/1, Virshup-0/1
Saves/Goals Allowed: Florsheim-12/15
Quotes:
Senior Co-Captain Sam Akiyama on the team's performance:
"I think we let ourselves down a little in this one. La Verne plays a physical game and we let that get to us. We need to be able to stick to our game plan and not let that kind of stuff get in our head."
Up Next:
The Tigers return to action at the Aggie Shootout, hosted by UC Davis September 27-28.
The Tigers will take on NCAA Division I nationally ranked #1 Stanford University, #4 UC Berkley, and #19 Navy along with Division II Cal Baptist University.
Oxy's home opener will be Monday September 29th at 7 p.m. against Division III #10 Connecticut College.
