Lions Drop a Pair

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's water polo team fell twice on Saturday.  Behrend was defeated 8-5 by Gannon before falling to Washington and Jefferson, 9-8.

In game one at Gannon, neither team was able to get much going offensively.  The Lions (1-11) only had one goal at half, but trailed by only three at the break.  Behrend came out fast in the third with three goals but were still trailing by two with one quarter to play.  The Lions could not match the Golden Knights two fourth quarter goals and suffered the loss.

Ali Khan (Lake Zurich, IL/Stevenson) led the offense with two goals.  Wes Atkinson (Camarillo, CA/Rio Mesa), Jake DesRoches (Fairfax, VA/W.T. Woodson) and Brendann Rosa (North Miami, FL/Hialeah) each contributed one goal.

In the nightcap, Behrend and Washington and Jefferson battled in a thrilling back and forth game. 

After the Lions scored twice to start the match, the Presidents answered with four straight over two quarters to take command.  With under a minute to play, Matthew Johnson (Houston, TX/Cypress Falls) netted a goal to cut the deficit in half, 4-3.

With the second half underway, the two teams continued to answer one another.  Behrend tied the game at 4-all midway through the third, but Washington and Jefferson came back with two more goals to increase the lead to 6-4.  Once again, the Lions tied the score at 6-all. 

Now, with the score 8-6 in favor of the Presidents, Kody Veit (Harleysville, PA/Souderton) netted two unanswered goals to knot the game at 8-all.  Washington and Jefferson scored with 2:24 remaining and that was all the scoring the game would see, with the Presidents holding on for the 9-8 win.

Khan scored three more goals in game two with Veit adding a pair.  In the two games combined, Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) made 12 saves with Rosa stopping 16.

Behrend will be back in action tomorrow at Mercyhurst at 1 p.m.