Lebanon, Ill. - Mercyhurst men's water polo saw their season come to a close Saturday in the WWPA Conference Championships. The Lakers fell behind in the early going in their first matchup and could never fully erase the deficit in the 22-17 final before an 18-10 loss to Fresno Pacific.
How it Happened
Much like yesterday's matchup, Mercyhurst was first on the board against the Golden Knights as Owen Hardner found the back of the cage just a few seconds into the game to help give the Lakers the lead. The Golden Knights had a rebuttal and managed to grab the lead, scoring thee times in a row. Keller Sens helped Mercyhurst stop the scoring drought with a goal at the 6:04 mark of the opening frame, but his efforts did little to help Mercyhurst from falling behind as it was an 10-4 game in favor of Gannon at the end of the first.
The Lakers put together a strong showing in the second period, helping them close the gap a bit. Owen Harder and Teagan Thomas opened the frame with the first two goals of the frame. Hardner scored once again after a shot from Ben Gavran found the back of the net to make it a 12-8 game before one more goal from both teams made it a 13-9 score going into the halftime break.
Mercyhurst tried to make up more ground in the second half and come away with the come-from-behind win, but to no avail. The Golden Knights managed to outscore their counterpart 5-3 in the third period before continuing to keep the Lakers at arm's length in the final period of play in the 22-17 final.
The second game of the day followed a similar trend as the Sunbirds jumped out in front as they scored the first three goals of the game. Hardner managed to help get the Lakers on the board late in the first, but the team still found themselves down 4-1 going into the second period. Fresno Pacific began to put some distance between themselves and Mercyhurst in the second with them able to outscore the Lakers 7-2 to take an 11-3 lead into the halftime break.
Mercyhurst began to fight back in hopes of pulling off the comeback in the second half. They were able to outscore their counterpart, 4-3 in the third period, but their effort in that frame alone did not give the team the momentum they needed as the Sunbird found their rhythm again in the fourth on their way to the 17-10 win.
Highlights
Teagan Thomas and Owen Hardner led the way in points in the pair of games with them both having nine points. Thomas finished with six goals and a trio of assists to his line while Hardner had a team-high seven goals and two assists. They were followed by Keller Sens who had four points in both games with six goals and a pair of assists to his ledger.
