Benjamin Sasaki’s Double-OT Goal Gives Pomona-Pitzer First Water Polo Title

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Photo Courtesy: Pomona-Pitzer athletics

Benjamin Sasaki’s Double-OT Goal Gives Pomona-Pitzer First Water Polo Title

It took two overtimes Sunday to separate two teams located just a single street part.

Benjamin Sasaki scored at 2:23 of the second overtime period, the only goal of two extra sessions to lead Pomona-Pitzer to a 13-12 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the NCAA Division III men’s water polo final.

Sasaki’s goal was his fourth of the game. It handed the Sagehens (27-8) their first NCAA title, a storybook finish a season that included the SCIAC regular season and postseason tournament crowns.

Sam Sasaki added three goals, and Noah Sasaki scored twice. Kellen Grant made 17 saves in goal, including a denial of Will Clark on the final possession to seal the victory.

Christian Pang led CMS with four goals. Sam Harrison, Andrew Wraith and CJ Box scored twice each.

The game featured seven ties. CMS opened up a 9-6 lead on a Rob Driscoll goal, and it led 10-7 with 3:11 left in the third quarter when Pang scored his second.

But Pomona-Pitzer went on a four-goal run, starting with Dylan Elliott with 17 seconds left in the third. Kyle Green put the Sagehens ahead, 12-11, with 4:45 to play, a third-straight man-up goal after Sam Sasaki and Ben Sasaki closed the gap. Pang’s fourth goal, just 12 seconds after Green, appeared to set up a grandstand finish, but instead the defenses won out for the rest of the fourth and most of OT. Noah Smith stopped seven shots and made four steals for the Stags in goal.

In the third-place game, Johns Hopkins edged MIT, 11-10. Emerson Sullivan scored three goals, and Kyle Pearson made 21 saves in net. Miller Geschke scored five goals for MIT.

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