ORANGE, Calif. —
River Lyon dominated Wednesday evening with four goals, three steals and an earned exclusion Wednesday evening. He led the young upcoming Chapman University water polo program against SCIAC and Division III power house Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Chapman outscored the Mustangs in the first and third quarters and had CMS on the ropes until the very end. Despite best efforts, Chapman fell 17-14 at home.
Matthew Cormican and
Sammy Hendrickson piled on another three goals and two assists each. They led the Panthers to 33 shot opportunities and eight steals for the game. Sophomore star
Rylan Takahashi piled on another two goals while
Jack Baker also scored one. Chapman started off the game outscoring CMS 5-3 in the first quarter, and went into halftime down 8-5. But the Panthers were far from done.
In the second half, Lyon went to work. He scored three straight goals in under one minute mid way through the third quarter and helped Chapman outscore the Mustangs 5-4 in the third. Chapman found themselves down just two goals heading into the last quarter of play. In the fourth,
Jack Baker netted his lone goal of the game and got Chapman within just one goal of the Mustangs.
Defensively,
David Yacoub locked down the goal with 14 saves to go along with two steals. Chapman will look to bounce back as they head on the road to play at Division I Long Beach State at 12 PM on Saturday, Oct. 17. Then, they will host Fullerton College in an exhibition match at home the same day at 4 PM.
