Photo By Toby Gassner
La Verne, CA — Occidental College Men's Water Polo traveled to the University of La Verne on Saturday for two games against conference opponent ULV and new program Westcliff University. The Tigers, ranked seventh in this week's NCAA Division III coaches poll, have now won four straight as they begin conference play.
"It's great to start conference play 1-0," said Occidental Men's head coach Jack Stabenfeldt. "We have a lot of depth this year and we are going to need everyone at some point."
The Tigers advance to 4-6 with Saturday's (24-14) and (14-12) big wins over ULV and Westcliff.
Game 1:
The Occidental Tigers outscored ULV 24-14. The Tigers were led by junior Cian Concannon (Mill Valley, CA) who scored six goals and had two assists. Three other Tigers that had a big presence in the pool were Aiden Cawley with five goals and one assist, Christian Guillaume with four goals, and Shea Grosz with three goals and two assists.
Overall, ten players scored for Oxy, giving the team a shot percentage of .585. The other Tigers that helped clinch the win were Daniel Cruz (one goal and one assist), Jasper Lee (one goal), Wilson Noll (one goal and one assist), Nate Fisher (one goal and three assists), Oliver Wilkins (one goal), and Dominic Rios (one goal and four assists).
Defending the Tigers' goal against the Leopards was Henry Grady with three saves and Cole Ivie with four saves and one assist.
The Leopards were led by Alam Barnuevo (four goals, two assists), Peter Trinh (three goals, four assists), and Guillermo Ocasio (three goals, one assist).
Game 2:
The Occidental Tigers outpaced Westcliff 14-12. The Tigers were led by junior Keegan Klein (Bellevue, WA) who scored three goals. Not far behind were Oxy's Aiden Cawley (two goals and two assists), Christian Guillaume (two goals), and Joseph Cox (two goals). Five other Tigers got the ball in the back of the net. Shea Grosz, Wilson Noll, Cian Concannon, and Jarrod Norton each had a single goal and an assist. Nate Fisher was the last Tiger to get past the Warriors' goalkeeper Roberto Barrera with a goal. Overall, nine Tigers were responsible for the 14 goals against Westcliff.
Oxy keeper Cole Ivie was a force to be reckoned with in the Tiger goal with ten big saves and a save percentage of .667. First year James Derrod made four key saves.
The Warriors were led by L. Silvestri (four goals), V. Inguanta (four goals), C. Norman (three goals), and C. Moore (one goal).
"The guys are really happy with how the team looks at this point," said senior and Team Co-Captain Cian Concannon, an economics major at Occidental. "We have a great group of returners, and a lot of young guys are stepping up in big moments. We are excited to see what we can accomplish this season with so much depth on our roster."
Next Game: The Tigers return home for conference play this Wednesday at 7pm vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. For the future game schedule and live stream links, go to https://www.oxyathletics.com/.
