CLAREMONT, Calif. - Augustana College men's water polo (3-6, 0-0) concluded their participation in the Gary Troyer Tournament on Saturday with a pair of games against Whittier College (11-6, 2-0) and Chapman University (2-15, 1-1). After falling 21-15 against Whittier, the Vikings pulled ahead in a back-and-forth battle against Chapman to win 19-14.
Game one - WC 21-15 Augie
Inside the box score
- Ian Palmroos led the offense for Augie with four goals.
- Rhys Lomax tied Palmroos for the team high in points with four (three goals, one assist).
- Cole Faux and Lincoln Nicholson both had a pair of assists.
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How it happened
While Whittier jumped out to a 3-1 lead in under two minutes, a four-goal run by the Vikings put them in front 5-3. Each team scored once to bump the score up to 6-4, but a pair of Whittier goals in the last 41 seconds of the first quarter tied things at 6-6 heading into the second.
Malte Faltstrom scored at 6:08 in the second to give Augustana the lead back, but three Whittier goals between 5:41 and 4:31 gave them a 9-7 lead. A Lomax goal at 4:07 cut the Augie deficit in half, however Whittier ended the first half on a four-goal spree to take a 13-8 lead into the break.
The Whittier scoring streak continued into the third quarter, which they opened with three consecutive scores. Lomax scored at 2:38 to end the Whittier run, which had built them a 16-8 lead, and another pair of Augie goals brought the Vikings back within five goals, 16-11. Whittier ended the third with one more goal, giving them a 17-11 lead.
Neither team gained or lost any ground in the fourth, as they each scored four goals to set the final score at 21-15.
Game two - Augie 19-14 CU
Inside the box score
- Faltstrom scored almost a third of Augie's goals with six.
- Luke Burger was second on the Vikings in points with five, trailing only Faltstrom and his seven.
- Marcos Moret Roldan made seven saves in the winning effort.
How it happened
A trio of Chapman goals in the opening two minutes gave them an early 3-0 lead. Augie got on the board at 4:14 thanks to a Palmroos goal, and both teams scored once more before the first quarter ended, setting the score at 4-2 Chapman after eight minutes of play.
Scoring was hard to come by to start the second. In the first half of the frame, back-to-back Augie goals tied the game before a Chapman score at 4:22 gave them the lead back. After another Chapman score to put them up by two, the squads would trade goals back and forth until the end of the second quarter, sending the game to halftime with Chapman on top 8-6.
Chapman's lead grew larger with the opening goal of the third quarter, but three straight Augie goals negated that lead and tied the game at 9-9. A fourth straight goal from Augustana at 2:45 put the Vikings in the lead, but Chapman tied the game again 42 seconds later. Over the final 90 seconds of the third frame, Chapman outscored Augie 2-1 to take a 12-11 lead into the final quarter.
Faltstrom scored 58 seconds into the fourth to tie the score at 12-all before scoring again at 5:33 to put Augie in front. Another four consecutive Augustana goals built them a 17-12 lead with less than 2:30 left to play. Both teams scored twice in the closing minutes as they worked their way to a 19-14 final score in favor of the Vikings.
Up next
Men's water polo stays in Illinois for their next set of games. On Saturday, Oct. 10, the Vikings start their run at the McKendree Mini with a 1:30 p.m. game against Salem and a 5:30 p.m. match with Saddleback.
