(Walnut, CA) The Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo team has won five of its last eight games; with the latest a 13-9 nonconference win over visiting Citrus College Thursday (Oct. 7) at the Marie T. Mills Aquatics Center.
With the win, the Mounties improved to 5-12 overall.
"I think that was a really good game for us," Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo coach Marc Ruh said. "We had to really lean on a couple of guys (Tate Cauley and Nick Brock) that would normally get us a couple of minutes a game. They stepped up with some really solid play for long periods of time.
"Everybody is typically battling the same kind of things that we are; mid-season injuries, sickness, etc."
Adam Dow (3 Steals, 1 Assist) led all scorers with four goals, followed by three players – Luke Noblett, Ivan Morales, and Trevor Ingersol with two each.
"Adam is a workhorse and plays both ends of the pool hard," added Ruh.
Goalie Noah Stark had 13 saves in the game for the Mounties.
"It's good to get a win like that under our belt because we've got some challenging games coming up," said Stark, who is from Centennial, Colorado. "We can take a lot of stuff from this game that might not have gone so well, especially since we have upcoming games with Cuesta and Long Beach."
Stark also had two steals in the game.
"Noah had some really good (saves) ones to keep us ahead and we had some good steals as well," Ruh added. "The offense did a solid job and put some really crucial opportunities away."
The Mounties defense produced 16 steals in the game.
Citrus took an early, 2-1 lead, but Dow tied the game at 2-2 with just five seconds left in the period.
The second period remained close early, 4-3, but two consecutive goals by Noblett and Dow, doubled the lead, 6-3, with 1:21 left.
"It was a big game for me," said Dow, who played with one of the Citrus players (Ian Tauer) and a couple more at Damien. "I also had one of my former coaches on that team.
"Although this team isn't in our conference, it's sort of like the battle for the region. We wanted to be the best team in this area. Going into the conference (next week) this was a big win."
Each team exchanged goals and the Mounties held a, 7-4 halftime lead.
Noblett and Dow each scored the first two goals in the third period to extend the lead to, 9-5, and Ingersol gave Mt. SAC a much-needed, five-goal lead in the fourth period at the 4:40 mark. The Mounties held on from there for the win.
"I'm proud of the team effort and that they battled for that one to the end," Ruh said. "There were lots of positives to take away as well."
Mt. SAC continues conference action Wednesday (Oct. 13) with a home game against El Camino (4-11, 0-2).
Follow Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo on Twitter @mtsacaquatics
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.
