Aikman Fang (@aikmanfang) – Spear Reporter
San Jose State men’s water polo (5-12, 0-2 GCC) crushed Whittier College (8-14, 1-4 SCIAC) in a convincing 13-5 win on Sunday afternoon in the Slade Aquatics Center.
SJSU men’s water polo snapped a six-game losing skid with this victory after losing to No. 9 UC Irvine on Saturday.
The Spartans started the game on offense after graduate student Niels Hofmeijer won the sprint. Holfmeijer went on to score the opening goal less than two minutes later. The rest of the first quarter was highly contested, with the Spartans and Poets tied 2-2 at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, junior Mark Kis struck gold and gave the Spartans a 3-2 lead. Graduate student Utku Karhan added another goal for the Spartans and extended their lead to 4-2 with seven minutes left in the second quarter. Kis would find the back of the net yet again giving the Spartans a 6-3 lead over the Poets.
Freshman Javi Ibanez scored the first goal of the second half and pushed the Spartans’ lead to 7-3 with five minutes left in the period. The Spartans led 10-4 over the Poets after junior Gal Haimovich scored in the final seconds of the third quarter.
The Spartans started on offense after Ibanez won the sprint for the ball and ran over Whittier College in the fourth quarter. The Spartans extended their lead and finished the game 13-5 over the Poets.
Karhan led the game with three goals off only four shot attempts. Sophomore goalkeeper Willem Simon anchored the defense with 13 saves.
“Lots of players did a lot of good things and it’s good to come back from a trip with a win,” said SJSU head coach Bruce Watson.
SJSU men’s water polo will play George Washington University next in the Julian Fraser Memorial invite in Santa Clara on Oct. 21 at 1:20 p.m.