NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo team dropped a 16-12 decision to host Connecticut College this evening in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at Lott Natatorium in New London, Conn.
The Lyons fall to 1-17 and 1-7 in league action in their last regular season game of the year, while the Camels improve to 3-13 and 3-5.
Wheaton made the most of its shots, despite being out-shot by Connecticut College, 35-14.
Sophomore utility player Spyros Rapsomanikis (Kerkyra, Greece) led the Lyons with six goals and two assists for a season-high eight points to go with two steals and a pair of drawn exclusions. Sophomore two-meter Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) and first year attacker Charles Jacoby (Reading, Pa.) each netted a pair of goals, while sophomore two-meter defender Jack Ruggiero (Hamden, Conn.) chipped in with a goal and an assist. First year goalie Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) was outstanding in net for the visitors, finishing with 17 saves, four steals and a pair of assists.
Junior attacker Jeffrey Harrington (San Diego, Calif.) tallied four goals, two assists and two steals for the Camels, while junior attacker Jesse Ellis (Fresno, Calif.) scored twice and added three assists and four steals. Senior Cully McPherson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) collected four points, including a goal in addition to coming up with a steal. Senior goalie Sebastian Parilov (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded 10 saves and two steals.
Connecticut College bookended three goals each around a score from Wheaton first year attacker Jackson Kesserman (Buena Park, Calif.) to take a 6-1 lead with five ticks left on the first quarter clock. Harrington scored three times during the opening stretch for the home team.
Ruemelin scored the first marker of the second quarter for the Lyons, before sophomore attacker Thomas McDonough (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and senior attacker Matthew Maischoss (Malibu, Calif.) tallied back-to-back goals for the Camels to increase their advantage to 8-2. Wheaton pulled within three scores after Rapsomanikis netted three unanswered goals to make it 8-5 at the end of the first half.
Connecticut College scored five of the next six goals, capped by a power play goal from senior utility player Carson Neidert (West Palm Beach, Fla.) to take its largest lead of the night at 13-6 with 62 seconds left in the third quarter. Jacoby netted the final goal of the period for the Lyons, who closed out the match with a 6-3 run to pull within 16-12. Rapsomanikis scored three goals and Jacoby scored twice in the final scoring stretch for Wheaton.
The Lyons return to the water on Friday, November 21 as the number 10 seed when they take on seventh-seeded Austin College at the Avery Aquatic Center on the campus of host Stanford University in the opening round of the MPSF Championship Tournament at 12:30 p.m. ET in Stanford, Calif. The Camels enter the tourney as the number nine seed and will take on eighth-seeded Pennsylvania State University Behrend on the same day at 11:00 a.m. ET.
