PASADENA, Calif. – The Caltech men's water polo team hosted Chaffey College Wednesday afternoon at Braun Pool and battled their way into the win column for the first time this season.

"I am very pleased with the hard work and effort that this young team has been putting in this season," Head Coach Jon Bonafede said. "The win today was a testament to this, and we have a lot more work to do."

Indeed, the Beavers don't have any seniors or juniors on the 2023 roster, and the visiting Chaffey Panthers put forth a lineup with one more sophomore than on the Caltech squad, but Caltech's additional depth and determination helped set the tone early and carry the team through to victory.

Caltech won the opening sprint off the hand of Alexi Stapf but defense and goalkeeping ruled the opening few minutes until Stapf finally found the cage after a pass from Justin Hong. Just over a minute later, Joshua Braun made it a 2-0 game with an unassisted goal, drawing a timeout by the visitors. After the break, a steal by Stapf led to the first of two consecutive Bram Schork goals, his first with an assist from Eric Verheyden and the second one by himself. The Beavers led 4-0 at the first quarter break after a brilliant save by Sujit Iyer prevented the Panthers from scoring on a late power play.

Chaffey claimed the first two goals of the second quarter and held Caltech off the scoreboard until the 4:05 mark as Axel Haydt beat the netminder, and then restoring the four-goal lead was Schork with an assist by Braun. At the half, Caltech led 6-2.

Stapf fed Braun for a goal to open the third quarter scoring, and then Stapf scored the Beavers' eighth after a long pass from Iyer, the sophomore goalkeeper's first of two points in the period. Chaffey and Caltech then traded goals a couple times, the Beavers replying to a Panther goal with Verheyden scoring after Rex Liu's assist and then Braun throwing one in off a feed from Shuhul Mujoo. Finally, the Beavers gained possession in their own zone with the shot clock turned off, and Iyer hurled a moon shot from 22 yards out, clanging off the bar and over the goal line as time expired. The exclamation point of a goal made it a 11-4 Beaver advantage.

Mujoo, a first-year walk-on attacker, fired and scored his first collegiate goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter, and then assisted the next Beaver goal as Hong buried his first. Stapf would pick up two more goals to bookend a three-goal run by Chaffey, and in the end the Beavers prevailed by a 15-8 score.

"I was happy that seven different players got on the scoreboard," said Bonafede. "I am excited for SCIAC play to start next week, and if this team continues to work hard, we will have a bright future."

Caltech Men's Water Polo will next travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to face No. 6 California Lutheran University on Saturday, Sep. 23 at 11 a.m. Find live stats and video links at https://gocaltech.com/coverage.