By Kay Hurd
La Verne Athletics Communication

LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne men's water polo team coasted to a 14-10 win over Occidental on Saturday morning.

La Verne improves to 6-16 overall and 4-3 in SCIAC play while Occidental falls to 4-17 and 1-5.

Rey Julian Castillo opened up scoring for the Leopards and Joshua Vega converted a penalty shot to give La Verne a quick 2-0 lead. Paul Bergevin would respond for Occidental, but Vega skipped in his second of the day with 2:46 left in the first quarter to keep the cushion and Tyler Bennett extended the lead to 4-1 with a bullet to the bottom left corner with 1:47 left in the frame.

Jared Hopley opened the scoring in the second quarter with a quick shot from set and Rex Sample slammed in a penalty at the 4:49 mark in the second quarter to give the Leopards a 6-2 lead. Castillo would add two more and the Leopards would cruise to a 8-4 at halftime.

Castillo was ejected from the game after picking up his third exclusion in the third quarter but the Leopards didn't skip a beat as they added six more goals in the second half.

Before the game, the Leopards honored the careers of their three seniors: Hopley, Bennett and Jessie Iniquez.

La Verne wrap up regular season play on Wednesday as they travel to Redlands for a 7 p.m. start.

La Verne 14, Occidental 10
Nov. 5, 2016 • La Verne, Calif
LV      4-4-4-2 = 14
OXY   2-2-3-3 = 10 

SCORING:
LV - Castillo 3, Rex Sample 3, Hopley 2, Vega 2, Bennett 2, Guillermo Ocasio, Joey Sabers
OXY - Bergevin 4, Rodriguez 3, Matt Weiser 2, Kevin Bowers