Wheaton College (MA)

WASHINGTON, PA. - First year attack Sean Spooner (Saline, Mich.) notched his first collegiate hat-trick as the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo team fell to McKendree University 23-13 in their second game on Saturday at Washington & Jefferson College.

Wheaton fell to 0-2 overall following the loss, while McKendree picked up their first win of the year to improve to 1-6.


Spooner was the scoring leader for the Lyons with three goals and two assists, while teammates Brian Otto (Escondido, Calif.) and Charles Jacoby (Reading, Pa.) both scored twice. Otto left his fingerprints all over Wheaton's second game of the day as he finished with two goals, one assist, three drawn exclusions, three steals and one field block. Wheaton featured goals from six other players, with Spryos Rapsomanikis (Kerkyra, Greece), Bray Turner (Forney, Texas), Hudson Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.), Josh Vander Wagen (Brookfield, Ill.), Jared Safren (Antigua, Guatemala) and Stefan Kecman (Chevy Chase, Md.) each scoring. Wheaton's two goalkeepers split the duties between the posts, with Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) making three saves and Leo Upson (Woodside, Calif.) making six. 

McKendree had two players finish with a hat-trick as Jonas King (Oviedo, Fla.) and Jayden Del Campo (Winnipeg, Canada) each finished with three goals, Del Camp also added two assists for a five point game, a feat only matched by his teammate Armand Le Goff (Reims, France), who had two goals and three assists. Nine other Bearcats scored, rounding out a dominant offensive performance. Goalkeeper Gennaro Pecoraro played all 32 minutes for the Bearcats and made 7 saves on 20 chances. 

The Bearcats opened up the game with a furious pace, and needed only 13 seconds to start the scoring. Despite the game still being in its infancy, the floodgates had already opened as the Bearcats swarmed the Wheaton defense. They scored seven unanswered goals in the first three minutes and five seconds of the game. Jacoby was the Lyon that stopped the bleeding, but the flow only ceased for a little while. Turner added a second goal for Wheaton with three minutes and 23 seconds to go in the first quarter, but that was it for the Lyons in the first frame. After the opening eight minutes, the Bearcats led 11-2.

Paxton Miller (Longwood, Fla.) scored 29 seconds into the second quarter to put the Bearcats up by 10, but Wheaton dug in and flipped around the momentum. Kosiba started the party, and within five minutes the Lyons scored five goals in a row. McKendree had the final word in the first half as Yannick Robertson (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) scored with 30 seconds left. Despite the frame being bookended by two Bearcat goals, the Lyons outscored their opponent 5-2 in the second quarter. 

Safren and Rapsomanikis each scored early on into the third quarter to keep the Lyons within reach of their opponents, but the Bearcats managed to slip seven past Boyer to keep their lead intact. Spooner notched another score late in the frame, but two more scores from the Bearcats put them ahead 21-10 going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter saw the Lyons pitch their best defensive stand of the night as they once again held the Bearcats to only two goals. Vander Wagen scored two minutes into the frame to even-out an early McKendree goal, and Otto converted a 5 meter penalty shot to keep the momentum with the blue and white. Despite the pair of goals, Wheaton was unable to score until the final minute, when Spooner finally completed his hat-trick. The late goal was wiped away by a McKendree goal in the final 10 seconds, and the Lyons fell to the Bearcats 23-13.

Wheaton will continue play in the Washington & Jefferson Invitational tomorrow at 9:10 AM against the hosts. McKendree will kick off day two of the tournament at the crack of dawn as they take on Connecticut College at 7:00 am.