PASADENA, Calif. - Caltech Men's Water Polo opened its 2024 home schedule in a midweek battle against Chaffey College, delivering an assertive victory over the Panthers. Caltech found the back of the net eleven times resulting in a final score of 11-4 and the team's second win of the year.

The two teams battled closely in the first quarter before the Beavers pulled away. In the 7th minute of the first quarter, sophomore attacker Joshua Braun (Bakersfield, Calif. / Garces Memorial) ripped one into the net and put Caltech on the board for the first score of the game. This would be followed by two more goals in the first quarter by freshman utility Carl Crum (San Carlos, Calif. / Sacred Heart Preparatory) and sophomore attacker Alexi Stapf (Santa Barbara, Calif. / San Marcos) who each recorded three goals on the day.

The Beavers entered the second quarter up 3-1 and would rack up four more goals on behalf of Crum with back-to-back scores, followed by sophomore utility Axel Haydt (Austin, Texas / Westlake) with the sixth goal for the team, and Braun recording the last goal before halftime for his second of the game.

Coming out of the break, Caltech's offense continued scoring with goals from Stapf and first-year attacker Maxwell Woodruff Vale (Austin, Texas / Liberal Arts and Science Academy) both of which came off assists from Haydt. While the goals continued, the Beavers' defense stiffened up in an impressive third quarter performance allowing no goals. Junior goalkeeper Sujit Iyer (Marietta, Ga. / Wheeler) tallied eight saves and was instrumental in the Beavers dominant win.

The team scored two more goals in the fourth quarter from sophomore attacker Justin Hong (Pasadena Calif. / Pasadena) and Stapf picked up his third goal of the game.

Crum led both teams in drawn exclusions with five, and Caltech connected for a trio of power play goals.

"It was great to get a win in our home opener," Head Coach Jon Bonafede said. "Even more exciting was seeing how well our new players have integrated with the team, and seeing Max score his first collegiate goal was really special. It's also nice to see how we picked up right where we left off at the end of last season as our returners are playing really well. We're really looking forward to Friday's matchup and the rest of the season."

The Beavers will return to action this Friday, Sep. 13 to face off against MIT as they look to build on the early success. Watch live on FloSports (subscription required) and follow live stats at GoCaltech.com/coverage.