LA VERNE, Calif. — Rey Julian Castillo scored a hat-trick in his final game as a Leopard and the University of La Verne men's water polo team came within two goals of the No. 19 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens late in the game.
But the Leopards couldn't get any closer, falling in their season finale 13-11.
La Verne finishes the 2017 season 6-17 overall and 3-11 in the SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer improves to 20-11 overall and 11-1 in the conference.
After falling behind 11-6 after three quarters of play, the Leopards rattled off five goals in the final period.
Senior Joshua Vega started a 3-0 run for the Leopards with 5:24 left to play, scoring a goal off an assist off Jason Russum.
Russum responded less than a minute later with a goal of his own, and Castillo connected with Joey Sabers just over 30 seconds later to put the score at 12-9.
After Max Ries put Pomona-Pitzer back up by four, the Leopards went on one final push. Domenic D'Andrea added a goal with 1:39 on the clock and Castillo scored his third goal of the game with just over a minute to play.
But that was as close as La Verne could come.
Tyler Bennett and Russum both scored twice in the game. Rex Sample also added a goal for La Verne.
Ian Hernandez totaled double-digit saves, finishing with 10 in the game
Senior Day: The Leopards honored seniors Rey Julian Castillo, Tyler Bennett, Joshua Vega, and Jeremy Rocha in a brief pregame ceremony.
