GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 15, 2021) – Caltech men's water polo scored the fastest goal in program history to open a tough battle at Citrus College on Wednesday afternoon.
Rookie Sean Zheng (San Marino, Calif. / Polytechnic School) won the opening sprint and immediately drew an exclusion on Citrus's sprinter when he shielded the ball away from his opponent. He then capitalized on the man advantage seconds later to put the Beavers up 1-0 early in the game.
Sophomore Perry Samimy (Miami, Fla. / Ransom Everglades) and junior Matthew Hajjar (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) also netted goals during the first quarter while junior Wei Foo (Hacienda Heights, Calif. / Troy) was stellar in goal, tallying five saves. However this was not enough to keep back the Fighting Owls, and the Beavers would go into the second quarter trailing at a 4-3 deficit.
The second quarter began with another sprint victory for Zheng, however due to defensive pressure and fatigue, Caltech found itself on the ropes already and started to force uncharacteristic passes which led to turnovers. Citrus was able to capitalize easily on these mistakes, but the Beavers still managed to keep the game close despite a roster half the size of the hosts. Hajjar and junior Max Bricken (Portland, Ore. / Westview) scored the only Beaver goals during the second quarter as Caltech finished the half down just 7-5.
"There were some frustrating moments because we know we can execute and perform better, but the team gave it full effort and is just dealing with fatigue and some inexperience still, " Head Coach Jon Bonafede said. "Right now it is all about trusting the process, taking it one day at a time and working on our conditioning."
Caltech would go on to score seven times in the second half, again well-distributed among five different Beavers. As Foo's frequent outlet passes from the goal started to come up a little short and slowed Caltech's attacks, he more than made up for it with multiple point-blank saves to keep the Beavers afloat late in the game. Foo also connected on a long pass to junior Juan Arvelo (Miami, Fla. / Riviera Prep), who found himself open on the left side of the pool during a Caltech counterattack and scored by deftly slipping the ball under Citrus's goalkeeper. Bricken remained viable for Caltech by drawing two penalties and scoring on both; he finished the game with three goals, two steals, and an assist. Hajjar led the scoring for Caltech with four goals while Samimy and Zheng combined for eight steals on the day.
The Beavers will be back in action this Saturday when they open up SCIAC play at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
