Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's water polo team opened the 2024 season against No. 6 UC Irvine and No. 2 California at the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego, and the Stags hung tough into the third quarter before falling 18-8 to the Anteaters and 19-8 to the Bears on Saturday.  

Nick Kennedy had six goals on the day, scoring four times against UC Irvine and twice more against California, while Luke (Bear) Weigle had three goals in the defeat to California. 

CMS, which is ranked No. 1 in Division III after winning the national title ago, gave No. 2 California a strong battle, trailing just 10-6 midway through the third before the Bears broke it open. The Stags fell in a 4-0 and 6-1 holes early, but got back to within 7-5 after a 3-0 run, as Weigle scored with 6:00 left in the half, Kennedy tallied a goal with 4:25 left, and Hassen Hove made it a two-goal game when he found the net with 3:34 left in the half. 

California closed out the half with two goals to make it 9-5, and then opened up the second half with another goal to stretch the lead to 10-5, before Weigle got his second to close the Stags within 10-6. The Bears then salted away the win with a 5-0 run before going on to a 19-8 margin. 

The first game followed a similar pattern, as CMS was down 10-6 at the half and 11-7 early in the third quarter against the sixth-ranked Anteaters. Kennedy scored two first-quarter goals and Ivey Gehring added one to keep the Stags within 4-3. Weigle closed out the first half with a goal with three seconds left to make it 10-6, and Kennedy started the second half with a goal to pull CMS within 10-7, but UC Irvine scored the next eight in a row to break it open. 

Len Korol and Cristian Pang added goals for CMS against UC Irvine, while Auggie Aliaga added a goal against California. 

CMS concludes the tournament tomorrow with games against UC Merced and UC Santa Barbara (ranked No. 11).