THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Caltech Men's Water Polo headed west Saturday morning to face sixth-ranked California Lutheran University for its first SCIAC contest of the 2023 regular season.

Playing in the toughest water polo conference in Division III, the Beavers faced a relentless opponent in the Kingsmen but the Beavers battled valiantly and earned some excellent results.

Joshua Braun sparked the Caltech offense by rattling Cal Lutheran's defense, eventually drawing an exclusion that led to the Beavers' first goal out of the hand of Bram Schork just a second later.

Schork scored again in the fourth quarter, and under a minute later, Alexi Stapf fed an assist to Axel Haydt for his first SCIAC goal. Braun got back in on the action at the 2:04 mark with a goal off a pass from Kaleb Dy, and after Justin Hong drew one last exclusion against the home side, he assisted Braun's second goal with 11 seconds to play.

"Sujit Iyer was great in goal today," Head Coach Jon Bonafede said, praising his good energy even when Cal Lutheran was picking up momentum. "Our team has something special in the works. The work ethic and attitude that we give day in and day out will eventually pay dividends."

Bonafede and the Beavers will have their first SCIAC home game on Wednesday, Sep. 27 at 7 p.m. in Braun Pool. Find live stats and video links at https://gocaltech.com/coverage.