ORANGE, Calif. — Senior
Steven Rubly refused to let his team lose. He had three of his four goals in the second half with his team down by as many as six goals mid way through the second quarter. That was when the Chapman University men's water polo team went to work, and Rubly strapped a jet pack on his team's back to lead to the 14-13 win.
With Chapman down big, fellow senior captain
Sammy Hendrickson netted back-to-back goals to start off the comeback. Then, Rubly went to work scoring his three goals from the end of the third quarter to the start of the fourth. He and Hendrickson tied up the game setting up a game winning goal by
Joshua Brown.
With 1:43 to play, Brown had one Occidental defender on him in the middle of the five meter area.
River Lyon dumped the ball in, and Brown immediately turned around to chuck the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. Brown let out a scream of excitement as he gave the Panthers their first and only lead, that they would never relinquish. Prior to the game winner, Chapman and Occidental remained scoreless for four minutes in the fourth quarter, tied up at 13.
Goalkeeper
David Yacoub, who was just named the SCIAC Athlete of the Week defensively, poured in eight saves and had a few crucial ones during the scoring dry spell.
Matthew Cormican,
Rylan Takahashi,
River Lyon and Hendrickson all netted two goals each. Yacoub currently ranks first in The SCIAC with 142 saves and Takahashi is top five in total goals with 47. Cormican added on three more assists, and ranks second in the conference with 40 overall.
Chapman also kept their playoff hopes alive with the comeback win. If the Panthers win their final two regular season games, they will clinch the fifth seed in the upcoming SCIAC Tournament. The Panthers will return home Saturday, Noc. 7 and celebrate Senior Day before playing Cal Lutheran at the Allred Olympic Pool. It will be the Panther's final regular season home game and they remained tied for fifth in the SCIAC.
