LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Caltech men's water polo team wrapped up its 2023 campaign on Saturday as the squad faced the Occidental College Tigers in a late morning road duel.

The Beavers entered the contest hungry for another conference win after topping the Poets of Whitter College in their most recent matchup away from home, though they faced a tough task going against the nationally-ranked Tigers in their home pool.

Oxy scored first in the contest, though sophomore goalkeeper Sujit Iyer came up with several impressive saves before the opening period came to a close.

It was the Beavers who opened the scoring as the second period began. A nice shot by first-year attacker Alexi Stapf with a little over seven minutes to go resulted in a Caltech corner throw, leading to fellow first-year attacker Heramba Patil finding Stapf who rocketed a well-placed shot in the back of the net.

Stapf nearly earned his second score towards the end of the period after the Beavers drew an exclusion, though a Tiger defender rose up for the block just before the halftime buzzer sounded.

Occidental scored at the 6:21 mark of the third quarter, though Caltech responded with a nice possession of their own a few minutes later. This time, it was Stapf doing the distributing as he found first-year utility Eric Verheyden who wound up for a soaring shot that cleared the goalkeeper.

Sophomore center Bram Schork played a major role in a number of the team's defensive stops; the captain came up with career-high five steals over the course of the game.

Iyer came up with 11 saves in net; Stapf recorded one field block.

Schork wraps up the season with a program-record 45 steals, toppling the previous single-season record of 35 set in 2015. The sophomore also finishes the fall with a team-high 88 goals.

Iyer closes the year with 210 saves while first-year attacker Justin Hong led the Beavers in assists with 29.

The group will now take a well-deserved rest before they return to the pool in 2024. With no seniors on the team, the program looks to bring back its entire roster next season.

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