NORTON, Mass. – The Connecticut College men's water polo team took care of business beating host Wheaton College 23-13 on Wednesday night from Balfour Natatorium. With the win, Conn improves to 6-11 overall.
Conn 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 goal a piece from Ellis and Jeffrey Harrington (San Diego, Calif.) to lead 8-3 after one.
The second continued the strong Conn 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. 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, had the Camels leading 15-5 at the break.
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. Conn ended the run with another tally from Kosiba, before Brevin Master (Burlingame, Calif.) made it 18-8 with 2:45 to play. The Lyons ended the frame with a 3-1 run, to cut the Camels lead to 19-11 heading to the fourth.
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 scored on the man advantage with two minutes remaining, before a late goal from Augie Loredo (Houston, Texas) and McDonough both tallied, giving Conn the 23-13 win.
All three goalies recieved action in the contest, with Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.) making four saves, Artem Kyselov (Dnipro, Ukraine) recording five, and Isaac Merwin (Houston, Texas) tallying six. Stevens paced the Camels with six goals, while Hipsky added five, Ellis and McDonough added three, and Kosiba notching two, rounding out the goalscorers with multiple tallies.
Conn returns to action next Wednesday, as the Camels travel to New Rochelle, N.Y. to take on Iona University at 6:00 p.m.
