| Box Score 2

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Connecticut College men's water polo team headed to California to participate in the 2024 Gary Troyer Tournament, dropping all four contests on the weekend, falling to Occidental, Cal Lutheran, Whittier, and La Verne. With the losses, Conn falls to 4-8 on the year.

Game 1: Occidental 25, Conn 5

Conn opened the scoring in game one just 16 seconds in, as Carson Neidert (West Palm Beach, Fla.) got the Camels on the board. Occidental answered with three straight goals to go up 3-1, before Jesse Ellis (Fresno, Calif.) converted on the power play to cut the deficit to 3-2. The Tigers added one more goal in the period to lead 4-2. Occidental continued their strong play, outscoring Conn 6-0 in the stanza to lead 10-2 at the break.

The Tigers' run continued to start the second half, adding three more goals, extending the lead to 13-2. Siaki Nelson (Houston, Texas) ended the run with just under four minutes left in the quarter to make it 13-3. Occidental added three more goals, before Ellis found Thomas McDonough (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) who put the ball in the back of the net to make it 16-4 heading to the fourth. The teams each scored one goal early in the final quarter, with Cormac Stevens (Philadelphia, Pa.) connecting for the Camels, before the Tigers ended the game on an 8-0 run to come away with the 25-5 win.

Game 2: Cal Lutheran 26, Conn 6

Game two was similar to game one, but it was Cal Lutheran who opened the scoring, tallying the first four goals to lead 4-0 just two minutes in. Jeffrey Harrington (San Diego, Calif.) got Conn on the board at 5:40. The Kingsmen ended the quarter with four more goals, taking an 8-1 lead after one. The Cal Lutheran run continued to start the second quarter with more goals, extending the lead to 13-1. McDonough ended the run, but the Kingsmen added three more goals to lead 16-2 at the break.

Cal Lutheran opened the second half on the front foot with three more goals, pushing the lead to 19-2. Ethan Hipsky (Glastonbury, Conn.) made it 19-3, but four more goals from the Kingsmen made it 23-3 heading to the fourth. Conn opened the final stanza with back-to-back markers, as Harrington and McDonough found the twine. Cal Lutheran answered with two straight goals, before Hipsky added one more for the Camels in the final minute, to fall 25-6.

Game 3: Whittier 13, Conn 11

Day two started with a back-and-forth affair between Whittier and Conn. The Poets opened the game on a 4-0 run, before Conn scored three times in the final two minutes, with Harrington netting two and Ellis adding the third on a penalty shot to trail 4-3 after one. Stevens and Ellis scored back-to-back to open the second quarter, to give the Camels their first lead at 5-4. From that point, Whittier outscored Conn 3-2 over the final six minutes of the half, with Harrington and Stevens scoring for the Camels, as the game headed to the break tied at seven.

Both defenses stepped their play in the second half, with just three goals being scored in the third quarter. However, all three markers came from the Poets, who used the run to take a 10-7 lead to the final stanza. Stevens opened the scoring in the final frame to cut it to 10-8, before Whittier answered with two straight to make 12-8. Conn did not go away quietly, however, as Stevens, Ellis, and McDonough each added one goal to make it 12-11 with one minute to play. Unfortunately, the Poets added an insurance marker with 40 seconds left, to take it 13-11.

Game 4: La Verne 17, Conn 12

Conn opened up the final game taking an early 1-0 lead, as McDonough connected with Ellis, to open the scoring. La Verne answered with two straight goals, before Harrington and Ellis, put the Camels back in front 3-2. The Leopards added a goal late in the frame, as the game was tied at three after one. The teams traded a goal apiece to open the second quarter, as Stevens scored for Conn. With the game tied at four, La Verne ended the first half on a 5-3 run, as the Camels got goals from Neidert, McDonough, and Stevens, to trail 9-7 at the break.

The Leopards opened the second half with the first goal, pushing the lead to 10-7. McDonough answered on the power play for the Camels, before three straight from La Verne made it 13-8. Conn ended the third quarter, outscoring La Verne 2-1, with goals from Ellis and Stevens, had the Camels trailing 14-10 heading to the fourth. La Verne outscored Conn 3-2 in the final stanza, as the two Camels goals came from Keegan Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) and Stevens, as Conn fell 17-12.

Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Artem Kyselov (Dnipro, Ukraine) split action in goal. Kyselov played all of games two and game four, while splitting the first game with Parilov, who played all of game three.

Conn has two weeks off before traveling to Baltimore, Md. for the CWPA DIII Eastern Championships hosted by Johns Hopkins, beginning against Austin College at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19 for the first of four games.