NORTON, Mass. — The Connecticut College men’s water polo team took care of business beating host Wheaton College, 23-13, at Balfour Natatorium. The Camels improve to 6-11 with the win.
Connecticut came out of the gates quickly, jumping out to a 4-0 lead just over two minutes in, on two goals each from Jesse Ellis (Fresno, Calif.) and Cormac Stevens (Philadelphia, Pa.). Wheaton answered with back-to-back goals to make it 4-2, before the Camels ended the quarter on a 4-1 run, with two more goals from Stevens, and a tally a piece from Ellis and Jeffrey Harrington (San Diego, Calif.) to lead 8-3 after one.
The second quarter continued the strong Camels’ play as Ethan Hipsky (Glastonbury, Conn.) and Thomas McDonough (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) scored within the first minute to push the lead to 10-3. Hipskey made it 11-3 before Keegan Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) added a goal to make it 12-3 with 5:43 left in the first half. The Lyons ended the run at 5:18 on a penalty shot from Michael Reumelin to make it 12-4. Stevens added two more goals, while McDonough added another, with the Lyons pulling one back, as the visitors entered halftime clutching a 15-5 lead.
Just 21 seconds into the third quarter, Hipsky extended the lead to 16-5. However, Wheaton answered with three straight tallies to cut the deficit to 16-8. Connecticut ended the run with another marker from Kosiba, before Brevin Master (Burlingame, Calif.) made it 18-8 with 2:45 to play in the frame. The Lyons ended the quarter with a 3-1 run to trim the Camels’ lead to 19-11 heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
The action slowed down to start the final quarter with Wheaton tallying the only goal in the first three minutes to make it 19-12. The Lyons cut the deficit to 19-13 with three and half minutes left, before Hipsky made it 20-13. Liam Merrill (Glastonbury, Conn.) scored a man-advantage goal with two minutes remaining before a late heaves from Augie Loredo (Houston, Texas) and McDonough both tallied, giving Connecticut a 23-13 win.
Stevens paced the Camels with six goals, Hipsky added five, Ellis and McDonough both chipped in three and Kosiba swished a pair to lead the way for the visitors.
All three Connecticut goalies made appearances with Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.) making four saves, Artem Kyselov (Dnipro, Ukraine) recording five and Isaac Merwin (Houston, Texas) registering six as the trio combined for 15 stops.
Information courtesy Connecticut College Athletics Communications
