PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech men's water polo team faced off against the Occidental College Tigers Wednesday night in a battle of two conference foes. It was the first home game versus an in-conference opponent for the Beavers, who defeated the Chaffey College Panthers their last time in Braun Pool.

Caltech won the opening sprint after first-year attacker Alexi Stapf nabbed the ball first to give his team possession, though it was the Tigers who earned the first score a few minutes into the opening quarter. The Beavers came up big on a number of important defensive possessions before sophomore center Bram Schork gave the team its first goal. After getting fed the ball inside by first-year attacker Justin Hong, the Pennsylvania native fired a shot towards and into the net, electrifying the home crowd.

Schork landed the team's second goal in the opening minutes of the third period, with Hong again providing the assist. The center scored a third time minutes later; this time it was first-year attacker Heramba Patil who set up the goal.

The Beavers made it back-to-back scores less than a minute later as they took advantage of a powerplay situation. Patil would grab his second assist of the evening as he found first-year attacker Joshua Braun who quickly found the back of the net.

Schork earned his fourth goal of the game later in the contest; it was his seventh career game scoring four or more goals in a single game.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sujit Iyer logged 12 saves on the night – just one short of his career best.

The team recorded 24 shots on the night; they drew four exclusions.

Despite the result, head coach Jon Bonafede felt as though his team showed fight.

"I am very proud of the composure and camaraderie we showed tonight," said Bonafede. "Occidental is a formidable opponent, with some very good talent. I was happy that we kept competing the entire game, and our guys walked away from this game with our heads held high."

Next up for Bonafede and the squad is the 2023 Gary Troyer Tournament in La Verne, California, where they will face off against Penn State Behrend on Saturday, Sep. 30 at 9 a.m. before taking on UC Merced at 1 p.m.

"We are excited to take what we have learned in our two SCIAC games into the Troyer tournament this Saturday," said Bonafede. "Rematching against Penn State Berhend will be a testament to how much we have improved."

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