LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Water Polo team put together a late comeback Saturday morning on the road only to come up short 15-14 to Occidental College.
The Bulldogs drop the season series with the Tigers as they move to 12-11, 4-4 SCIAC, while Occidental improves to 11-12, 6-2 SCIAC. Six teams will qualify for the SCIAC Tournament this year and Redlands is currently in fifth place with three conference games remaining on the schedule.
It was back and forth all morning with Oxy holding a 7-6 lead at the break and then keeping that one goal advantage in the second half despite a furious effort by the Maroon and Grey. After the opening eight minutes the game was tied at 2-2 with Ron Gvishi (Kiryat Tivón, Israel) and Alec Abrahamian (Glendale, CA) connecting. UR and Oxy swapped goals to start the second quarter as Abrahamian dented the twine to make it 3-2. Two-minutes later Spencer Sellwood (Irvine, CA) used a 5-Meter opportunity to tie the game up again. Abrahamian completed the hat-trick at the 4:15 mark moving the score to 5-4, but that lead soon went away as Oxy would go back-to-back to take a 6-5 advantage.
With under a minute to play in the period Drake Moody (Camarillo, CA) got into the mix with a full-strength tally that deadlocked the game for the sixth time. But the Tigers would come down on their next possession and after a quick shot that hit the crossbar would gather the rebound and finish pushing the score to 7-6.
Oxy outscored Redlands in the third quarter 4-3 as the game continued to go back and forth. Moody evened the game with a quick strike on UR's first possession, but it was countered quickly by the Tigers who would take the first two-goal lead of the game at the 6:05 mark. Christian Guillaume extended the run to three for Oxy soon after moving the score to 10-7. But UR didn't go away quietly as Gvishi would complete his hat trick with under two minutes to play as he made it a one-score game at 10-9.
Trailing by two to start the fourth the Bulldogs came out quickly putting up five goals and outscoring the Tigers by one across the final eight minutes. Oxy tacked on what proved to be the game-winner on their first possession. It was followed by Max Wagener (Piedmont, CA) who converted a penalty shot, Abrahamian who would add his fourth of the game and Moody who would find the back of the net to make it a one-goal game at 13-12 with 4:14 left. Abrahamian tried to keep UR in striking distance with his fifth of the game at the two-minute mark and then his sixth a minute later that kept it a one-score game. But that's as close as Redlands would get as a turnover on their final possession would secure the win for the Tigers.
Abrahamian had the game of his career finishing with six goals to lead all scorers. Moody and Gvishi added hat tricks with Moody tacking on two assists, while Sellwood would have a strong stat line of a goal, three assists and a steal.
The Bulldogs finished with 31 shots (.452 Shooting Percentage), were 2-of-7 on Power-Plays (.286) and converted a pair of five-meter penalties.
Brandon Khalil (Bakersfield, CA) played all 32:00 minutes posting six saves.
Redlands returns to the pool next Wednesday, November 2 inside the Thompson Aquatic Center when they host Cal Lutheran University beginning at 7:00pm.