Lions Fall to Salem

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's water polo team dropped a tough battle to Salem 14-12 on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions got off to a hot start in their last home game of the season, taking a 3-0 lead to start the game. Edwin Doo (Placentia, CA/Valencia) scored 1:03 into the game to get Behrend on the board first.

Grant Garcia (Kingsburg, CA/Kingsburg) and Justin Spence (Houston, TX/Cy-Fair) added a goal each to take the 3-0 advantage. Garcia added his second of the game and the Tigers tallied three to cut the Salem deficit to one after the first quarter.

The second quarter was not the Lions quarter. The Tigers outscored Behrend 5-1 in the quarter to take a three-goal lead at 8-5. Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) scored the lone goal for the Lions during the quarter.

Behrend quickly fixed their second quarter woes and went on a 3-0 run to tie the game at eight to start the third. Garcia tallied his third and fourth goals of the game just 20 seconds apart. He scored just 40 seconds into the quarter, then added another at the one minute mark of the third.

Each team went a 2-0 run after the game entered an 8-8 tie to bring the game to 10-all. Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA /Evergreen Valley) and Troy Valkusky (Drifton, PA/Hazleton) notched their first goals of the contest in the quarter.

Salem again took a two goal lead, but not to be outdone by Garcia. Garcia scored a goal to end the third and another to start the fourth to once again bring the game to even. Garcia tallied a game-high six goals, adding to his team-leading 51.

The Tigers continued to fight as they scored two unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to take a two-goal lead they would not relinquish.

Behrend will close out their season at the Southern Division Championships hosted by Bucknell on November 7.