EMMITSBURG, Md. (September 10, 2021) – Scoring the first nine goals of the game, Mount St. Mary's men's water polo cruised to their first victory of the season, dominating Penn State Behrend 21-6 Friday night in Erie.
Eli Thalos led the charge with six goals as he headlined a scoring barrage that included six multi-goal scorers and three hat tricks.
Jason O'Donnell cemented his hat trick early, converting all his goals in the opening half. Freshman
Zach Fischer obtained his first collegiate goal trio with 1:14 remaining, capping off the Mount's goals for the evening.
Fischer and
Jason Fitch started the outburst with goals in the first minute. Mount St. Mary's led 7-0 after the opening salvo and managed to hold the Lions off the board for another three minutes before making their first concession with 4:41 left in the half.
Sitting comfortably at the break, the Mount held steady in the third quarter. They continued to pace ahead of the Lions, but by a 3-2 margin. The first career goal for
Alex Hoy came with 6:43 to go, and Fischer's final tally gave the Mount its largest advantage of 15 points.
Six Mountaineers had multi-assist efforts, with
Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield adding three steals to his three assists.
Nate Hopkins drew five exclusions and two penalties. Goalkeeper
Marko Kruska denied 16 of 22 shots on goal, saving at a rate of 73 percent. As a unit, the Mount made few errors with just six turnovers for the game.
The Mount improves to 1-4 this season. Next up is a pair of Saturday (Sept. 11) showdowns with Gannon and Mercyhurst. They will face the Golden Knights at 11 a.m., followed by a 3 p.m. start with the Lakers.
Mount St. Mary's 21, Penn State Behrend 6
Team 1 2 3 4
Mount St. Mary's 7 6 3 5
PSU Behrend 0 3 2 1
Mount St. Mary's Goals: Thalos 6, O'Donnell 3, Fischer 3, Hopkins 2, Wallace-Whitfield 2, McNeal-Villafana 2, Hoy 1, Lemishko 1, Fitch 1
PSU Behrend Goals: Carpico 2, Kruger 2, Anderson 1, Kenney 1
