CMS Men's Water Polo Picks up Key SCIAC Road Win at La Verne 8-6

LA VERNE, Calif. - Gavin Rosser, Thomas Walker, and Cristian Pang each scored back-to-back CMS goals in key stretches of the game, and Aidan Nettekoven had 13 saves as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team earned an important 8-6 road win over La Verne at Las Flores Pool.

With the win, CMS moves to 11-13 on the year and stays above .500 in SCIAC at 5-3, as it chases one of the top two seeds in the six-team SCIAC Tournament, which would result in an opening-round bye and the right to host a semifinal game on Nov. 18. 

The Stags never trailed, but had to fight off several La Verne challenges. Rosser scored two straight goals in the first quarter to give CMS a 3-1 lead, after Luke (Bear) Weigle opened the scoring. Auggie Aliaga scored early in the second to make it 4-1, but La Verne was able to pull within 4-3 at the break. 

Walker scored both CMS goals in the third period, both of which broke ties, after the Leopards scored the first goal of the second half to knot the game at 4-4, and then answered Walker's first goal to tie it 5-5. Walker's second goal gave CMS the lead for good, and then Pang scored two straight goals in the fourth quarter to give the Stags some separation at 8-5. 

La Verne was able to get one of the goals back on a penalty shot with 1:30 left to keep its comeback hopes alive down 8-6. However, Nettekoven came up with a big save on the next La Verne possession, Pang followed with a steal, his third of the game and CMS was able to hold on for the 8-6 win. 

The Stags will be back in action next Wednesday when it hosts Whittier for a 7 p.m. contest. CMS originally had a game schedule at home with Caltech on Saturday, but that game was canceled after the Beavers discontinued their season.