BALTIMORE - Augustana College men's water polo (6-9, 2-0) began their conference schedule on Saturday at the MPSF Weekend I, where they played Connecticut College (3-14, 0-1) and Wheaton College (Mass.) (1-10, 0-2). The Vikings handled business in both contests, beating Connecticut 18-11 and Wheaton 23-12.
Game one - Augie 18-11 CONN
Inside the box score
- Malte Faltstrom, Rhys Lomax, and Cole Faux all had hat tricks.
- Luke Burger dished out three assists.
- Lawson Soukup made nine saves.
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How it happened
The teams were neck-and-neck to start, tying each other at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4. From there, Connecticut struck twice in the final 70 seconds of the opening quarter to take a 6-4 lead into the second. Connecticut added to their lead in the first half of the second frame, scoring two goals to Augie's one. After nearly three minutes of scoreless action, Faltstrom scored to pull within two. Burger then added a score in the closing seconds of the half to make it 8-7.
Connecticut scored first in the third, but Augie responded less than 30 seconds later to make it a one-goal game again. Two minutes later, Augustana finally found the equalizing goal and made it 9-9. Lomax then scored at 2:01 to put the Vikings in front, and another Augie goal at 1:09 made it 11-9 in favor of Augustana. Each team added a goal in the third's final 20 seconds to set the score at 12-10 heading into the final frame.
Augie locked down Connecticut all of the fourth. Both scored in the opening 1:30, but the Vikings shut out their foes the rest of the match while adding five insurance markers to seal the 18-11 win.
Game two - Augie 23-12 WHE
Inside the box score
- Lomax added another four goals to his day's total.
- Uros Ramic had a four-goal game as well.
- Soukup and Ethan Hutton made four saves each.
How it happened
It took until 5:24 for the scoring to begin, but Ian Palmroos got Augie started with back-to-back goals. The Vikings added another pair of goals before Wheaton finally got on the board at 2:45. Wheaton would score two in a row to cut Augie's advantage in half, and both squads added a goal in the final 1:09 to make it 5-3 going into the second quarter.
Wheaton scored 15 seconds into the second to pull within one of the Vikings, but the next six goals belonged to Augie as their lead ballooned up to 11-4. At 2:53 Wheaton finally found the back of the net and added another score 53 seconds later to set the score at 11-6. The last tally of the half belonged to Augustana, however, as they took a 12-6 advantage into halftime.
Wheaton managed to close the gap to five in the first four minutes of the second half, but a 4-1 run by the Vikings created plenty of distance once again. After both squads scored in the last 60 seconds of the frame, Augie was on top 18-10 heading to the fourth. Both teams scored in the first 2:00 of the fourth before the Vikings grabbed four straight goals. Wheaton did manage to score in the closing seconds of the game, but all it did was set the final score at 23-12 in favor of the Vikings.
Up next
Augie completes their weekend trip on Sunday, Oct. 25, with a 9:30 a.m. EST game against Washington & Jefferson and a 2 p.m. EST match versus Penn State Behrend.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Augustana men's water polo by following the team on Twitter at @augieathletics, on Facebook at Augustana Vikings Athletics, and on Instagram at @augiewaterpolo.
