Behrend Falls Twice in Final Day of CWPA Regional

WASHINGTON, Pa - The Penn State Behrend men's water polo team competed in the final day of the CWPA Division III Regional Sunday afternoon. The Lions fell to Monmouth 16-10 and La Salle 24-11.

In game one, Isaak Hatopp (Saline, MI/Saline) found the back of the net six times to pace the Behrend (0-19) offense in game one against the Scots (1-6). Andre Sardaryzadeh (Murrieta, CA/Elsinore) added two goals to the effort.

Monmouth jumped to an early 2-0 lead before Troy Valkusky (Drifton, PA/Hazelton) cut the lead in half. At the 5:14 mark of the second quarter, Sardaryzadeh tied the match at four apiece, but the Lions were never able to take the lead.

The Scots jumped out to their largest lead of the game after scoring eight-straight goals to make it a 12-4 game. Behrend would counter with six goals over the next 10 minutes, but were unable to overcome the large Monmouth lead.

In game two against La Salle (3-8), Kyle Frerichs and Valkusky both recorded hat tricks but the Explorers offense overpowered the Lions in the 24-11 loss.

After a 10-4 first quarter in La Salle's favor, Behrend and the Explorers traded goals in the second quarter, each scoring four. La Salle pulled away from the Lions in the second half of the match, tallying 10 more goals opposed to Behrend's three.

Hatopp tallied a team-high 13 goals this weekend while Sardaryzadeh added nine. Valkusky netted a total of eight.

The Lions will be back in action when they host the Division III Eastern Championships on Saturday October 22 at a time to be determined.