NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo team was defeated by host Connecticut College, 18-11, this evening at Lott Natatorium in New London, Conn.
The Lyons fall to 1-12 on the season, while the Camels improve to 5-15.
Connecticut College boasted a 39-31 shot advantage for the contest.
Junior attacker Spyros Rapsomanikis (Corfu, Greece) led Wheaton with two goals and two assists to go with a pair of steals and four drawn exclusions, while junior utility player Brian Otto (Escondido, Calif.) netted three goals in addition to two steals. First year attacker Stefan Kecman (Chevy Chase, Md.) contributed with two goals and classmate Sean Spooner (Saline, Mich.) scored a goal, assisted on three others and came up with a steal for the Lyons. Sophomore goalie Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) stopped nine of 26 shots in 26:35 of play, before yielding to first year netminder Leo Upson (Woodside, Calif.), who turned away three of four shots in the final 5:35.
Senior two-meter Cormac Stevens (Philadelphia, Pa.) potted a game-high five goals to go with three drawn exclusions and two steals, while first year utility player Laird Welch (Carmel, Calif.) racked up five points, including three goals and added a steal and a drawn exclusion for the Camels. Junior Keegan Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) tallied four points on two goals and two assists to go with two drawn exclusions and sophomore two-meter Zach Dixon (Wayne, Pa.) scored twice to go with a field block. Junior goalie Artem Kyselov (Dnipro, Ukraine) denied nine of 16 shots and first year goalie Graham Hege (Decatur, Ga.) stopped one of three shots.
First year center defender Ethan Vince (Dexter, Mich.) tied the score with a goal for Wheaton with 5:52 to play in the opening quarter to make it 2-2. Conn. College scored four of the next five markers to close out the period with a 6-3 lead, led by two goals from Welch, while Kecman tallied the lone goal for the Lyons.
The Camels continued their momentum into the second quarter with three straight scores capped by a goal from Stevens to give the home team a 9-3 lead with 6:29 showing in the second quarter. Rapsomanikis and Spooner scored back-to-back goals to cut the deficit to 9-5 at the 4:38 mark of the quarter for Wheaton, before Conn. College closed out the quarter with two goals to take an 11-5 lead into the intermission.
The teams traded three goals apiece, including two from Stevens and a goal from sophomore center Charles Jacoby (Reading, Pa.) with 35 ticks left in the third quarter to keep the Lyons within 14-8.
The Camels scored the first three goals of the final quarter, including a marker at the 4:21 mark from Welch to give Conn. College a 17-8 advantage. Wheaton closed out the contest with three of the last four goals, including a pair from Otto, to pull the visitors within 18-11 before the final horn sounded.
The Lyons return to action on Friday, October 30 when they travel to Providence, R.I. to take on Brown University at 7:30 p.m., while the Camels play Johns Hopkins University on November 7 at 10:30 a.m. in Rock Island, Ill. at host Augustana College.
