Box Score ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- Sophomore goalkeeper Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) felt the time winding down in the first quarter of the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo game against Washington & Jefferson College and fired a shot from his own goal towards the Presidents. A beautiful toss glided into the cage with one second on the clock to give Wheaton their first goal of a 9-8 win on Sunday afternoon at host Augustana College. 

Wheaton's win broke the previous record for wins in a season as they improved to 2-15 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Washington & Jefferson fell to 0-14 overall and 0-6 in the MPSF. 

First year Sean Spooner (Saline, Mich.) powered the Wheaton offense with two goals and two assists while fellow first year Stefan Kecman (Chevy Chase, Md.) and junior Spyros Rapsomanikis (Corfu, Greece) finished with two goals each. Junior Josh Vander Wagen (Brookfield, Ill.) and sophomore Charles Jacoby (Reading, Pa.) both finished with a goal to round out the scoring field players. Boyer also netted a goal and made his second-most saves on the season with 12 stops. 

Senior Dillon Parker (Nipomo, Calif.) led the way for the Presidents' offense with five goals while junior Brody Souder (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) finished with two goals and two assists. Senior Timothy Deutsch (Hazleton, Pa.) completed the scoring with a goal and two assists. First year goalkeeper Michael Stefanko (Wexford, Pa.) played the entire contest and made 10 saves.

Wheaton lost the opening sprint and went to work on defense right out of gates. Boyer made his first save of the game from the Presidents' first shot of the affair. The Lyons endured a power play with stout defending, and kept the game scoreless through five minutes. Parker managed to score his first goal of the game soon after, but the Lyons were still churning forwards. Their accuracy was lacking as three sequential shots went wide, but an opportune recovery by Boyer kept the play alive with only seconds to go. He fired from his own end and scored with a single second to play to tie the score at 1-1 after the first quarter. 

The Presidents came alive in the second quarter and began to increase their offensive pressure. It took only 27 seconds for that pressure to yield results as Souder scored to put his side back in front. The momentum stayed with Washington & Jefferson, but Wheaton was able to keep them off the board for four minutes. Deutsch scored with three minutes left in the quarter and Parker scored his second a minute later. Souder scored his second a minute after that, and the Presidents finished the first half with a big 5-1 lead in hand. 

Wheaton took the halftime break to formulate a response to their opponent. With the plans written, all they needed to do was execute, and they did so with rigor. Rapsomanikis scored just 51 seconds into the second half after an early exclusion on the Presidents. Neither team was able to score through the middle phase of the third quarter, but Parker ended the drought with a goal with three minutes left. Rapsomanikis responded with a power play goal just 26 seconds later, and Jacoby scored 41 seconds after that to make it 6-4. Wheaton kept their foot on the gas and found the back of the net once more thanks to a Spooner goal in the final minute. The Lyons won the quarter and reduced their deficit to just one goal at 6-5.

Both teams scored within the first two minutes of play as Parker scored his fourth goal just 16 seconds before Vander Wagen netted his.Three minutes went by without a goal, but the Presidents did force Boyer to make two saves. With three minutes left in the game, Wheaton finally found their equalizer thanks to Spooner once again. Parker was able to give his side the lead once again with just 87 seconds left to play, but Kecman flew down the field and scored 19 seconds later to keep the tie intact. A full time out by Washington & Jefferson allowed time for each team to prepare, but the President's preparation was for naught as Parker's shot went wide. Wheaton regained possession with mere seconds on the clock, and again used Kecman's speed to transition down the length. Spooner slid the ball to Kecman and Kecman fired a shot past Stefanko to give Wheaton a 9-8 lead with just 31 seconds to go. The Presidents had one last chance, and their shot missed wide to give Wheaton their second win of the year.

Wheaton will return home to play Connecticut College on Thursday at 7:00 pm for their final regular season game of the year. Washington & Jefferson will rest until the MPSF Championship Tournament on November 20th at USC in Los Angeles.