ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University men's water polo team celebrated its seniors before the match and celebrated clinching a spot in the postseason after the match. With a 12-9 win over Occidental, the Panthers locked up the final spot in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament on Nov. 17-19.

A back and forth game through the first three quarters, the Panthers and Tigers were tied 1-1 after the first, 3-3 after the second and 6-6 after the third. Oxy struck first in the fourth but a three-goal run for Chapman put the Panthers ahead 9-7 and they would not relinquish the lead.

Spencer Snow scored a hat trick in the fourth quarter, scoring three consecutive goal for the Panthers to keep pushing the lead to multiple goals. Everett Prussak added two of his three goals in the final quarter and Nate Randolph scored his third and final goal of the match to put the Panthers ahead 8-7.

The Chapman defense was able to keep the Panthers in the game as they dealt with going down a player 13 times in the match compared to Oxy's seven. The Tigers converted just three of those opportunities into goals while Chapman scored just one while a player-up.

Ben Blatt made nine saves for the Panthers and came up with three steals to earn the win in the cage.

With the win, Chapman claims a top-4 spot in the standings for the first time since 2017. The Panthers currently sit in fourth place but are just a game behind Pomona-Pitzer for third. Chapman heads to La Verne on Saturday before finishing up the SCIAC season next Wednesday at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.