PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech men's water polo team hosted the No. 2 University of Redlands Bulldogs on Wednesday as the Beavers competed in their final home game of the 2023 season.

After picking up a historic SCIAC win over Whittier College last Saturday, Caltech produced a number of impressive goals as well as stops as they took on their nationally ranked guests.

It was the Beavers who earned the first possession after first-year attacker Alexi Stapf scooped the ball off the opening sprint.

The Beavers forced a number of exclusions in the first quarter but ultimately could not take advantage on the offense end.

Caltech put more pressure on the Bulldog defense in the second period as the squad produced its first score of the evening. After getting the feed from first-year attacker Joshua Braun on the right flank a few minutes into the period, Stapf rocketed a well-timed shot that slipped in between the goalkeeper and the right post, electrifying the home crowd.

Sophomore center Bram Schork also got involved in the scoring later in the contest after drawing a penalty foul; the standout fired a shot past the visiting goalkeeper to give the squad its second goal.

The group outperformed the Bulldogs in the final eight minutes as they came up with two goals while limiting the Bulldogs to just one.

After drawing an exclusion at the 5:42 mark of the fourth quarter, the Beavers quickly called a timeout to draw up a specific approach – moments later, the team executed as first-year attacker Justin Hong fed first-year utility Axel Haydt, who swam briefly towards the net before sending a zooming shot into the goal.

The team connected on its second goal of the period a few minutes later as Hong found Schork inside; the center rose up before hurling the ball past the goalkeeper into the top right corner of the net.

The team nearly held its visitors to zero goals in the period before Redlands scored once at the 1:21 mark on a penalty shot.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sujit Iyer came up with a number of impressive stops in goal; saving ten. His fellow captain Schork led all players in steals, with four, tying his career high.

Head coach Jon Bonafede was proud of how the team competed against such a strong opponent.

"The improvement that we showed tonight is remarkable," said Bonafede. "I am so excited to keep training this team and to see how far we can go in the next season – but first we get one more chance to showcase our improvement on the road in Eagle Rock," he said.

The team will compete in its final matchup of 2023 as they take on the Tigers of the hosting Occidental College. Follow along online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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