LA VERNE, Calif. — Rey Julian Castillo scored a hat-trick and added two assists, and the University of La Verne men's water polo team tied Iona College 7-7 with 6:50 left in the game.

But the Gaels went on a 3-0 run to take back the lead, beating the Leopards 10-9 Thursday afternoon.

At the start of the fourth quarter with the Leopards trailing 7-5, Rex Sample took control early in the period, scoring off an assist from Mike Meza with 7:34 left in regulation. 

Less than a minute later, Castillo scored his second goal of the game to even the game 7-7.

After the Gaels went on 3-0 run to retake the lead, the Leopards went on a late surge to give themselves a chance to tie. Tyler Bennett found the back of the net with 3:22 left to play. Then Castillo scored his third goal of the game with just over a minute and a half remaining. 

The Leopards got the ball back with under a minute to play, but couldn't convert, dropping the non-conference game.

Bennett and Sample both finished with two goals. Joey Sabers and Joshua Vega each added one goal and one assist. Jason Russum dished out two assists.

Ian Hernandez finished with 12 saves and a steal. Castillo had a big game defensively as well totaling 3 steals.

Season Impact: The Leopards move to 3-7 overall and the Gaels improve to 4-10.

Next Game: The Leopards next take part in the annual Troyer Tournament hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. La Verne opens up tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. against La Salle and play Navy at 2:15 p.m. On Saturday the Leopards play Fordham at 11:45 a.m. and finish the tournament vs Johns Hopkins at 6 p.m. For links to live video and live stats visit the Gary Troyer tournament homepage here.