ERIE, Pa. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo team fell to Austin College, 26-9, this afternoon in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at the Junker Center at host Pennsylvania State University Behrend in Erie, Pa.
The Lyons drop to 1-12 overall, while the Kangaroos improve to 4-7.
Austin held a 42-30 shot advantage in the match and held a 16-3 scoring advantage at halftime.
Sophomore utility player Spyros Rapsomanikis (Kerkyra, Greece) led Wheaton with three goals, three drawn exclusions and two steals, while first year attacker Hudson Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) collected three points with a pair of goals and an assist to go with a field block. Sophomore two-meter Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) netted a goal and added an assist and first year attacker Ayden Guess (Alvin, Texas) scored a goal and drew an exclusion. First year goalie Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) stopped three of 12 shots and also added a goal and a pair of steals. Sophomore netminder Dylan Boccali (Camarillo, Calif.) stopped two of 19 shots as well.
Senior attacker Jack Stack (Concord, Calif.) racked up 11 points with five goals and six assists to go with a pair of steals for the Kangaroos, while junior center Sebastian Scheier (La Palma, Calif.) collected six points, including five markers. First year attacker Owen Altermatt (Boerne, Texas) tallied eight points, including three goals and five assists in addition to a steal. First year goalie Donovan Lupul (Bakersfield, Calif.) was one of three goalies on the afternoon for Austin and stopped six of 12 shots. First year keeper Jordan Pomier (Pearland, Texas) turned away two of four shots and sophomore goalie Caleb Maddox (Mesquite, Texas) denied one of two shots that he faced.
The Kangaroos netted the first eight goals of the day, in a stretch of just 4:05, fueled by three goals from Stack. Sophomore two-meter defender Jack Ruggiero (Hamden, Conn.) and Ruemelin each netted back-to-back scores for the Lyons to cut the margin to 8-2 with 2:03 showing on the first quarter clock.
Austin effectively put the game away after scoring 13 of the next 14 goals, including three goals from Scheier and two each from junior attacker Greyson Gaworecki (Seabrook, Texas), Altermatt and senior attacker Aidan Wade (Flower Mound, Texas), to increase its advantage to 21-3 with 3:28 left in the third period. Wheaton ended the third quarter in a flurry with four of the period's final five goals, led by two markers from Rapsomanikis, to pull within 22-7.
The Kangaroos scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter, in a span of 47 seconds, to increase their margin to 25-7. Guess and Kosiba scored consecutive markers for the Lyons to cut the deficit to 25-9 with 78 seconds left in the game. Junior center defender Viktor Buscemi (Manchester, Md.) potted the final goal of the day for Austin with 55 ticks left on the fourth quarter clock.
Wheaton returns to the pool on Friday, November 7 when it hosts Connecticut College at Balfour Natatorium at 6:00 p.m., while the Kangaroos play the same Camel team the following day in Norton at 9:00 a.m.
