San Diego, Calif. - The No. 5 Pacific men's water polo team moved to 3-0 with a 12-9 win over Air Force Sunday morning at the UCSD Triton Invite.
Ben Stevenson scored four goals, while Krisztian Laczkovics added three. Kale Ai chipped in a pair of goals and the Tigers received goals from J.T. Sarmento, Simon Vogel, Michael Woodbury, and Derek Clappis.
Chris Hughes made seven saves in goal for the win.
After a 2-2 first quarter, the Tigers pulled away on goals from Stevenson and Laczkovics to open the second. Robby Stiefel brought the Falcons within 4-3, but Stevenson tallied again for a two-goal lead. After Ben Rogers scored one of his three goals for Air Force to trim the gap to one, the Falcons would get no closer.
Ai closed the half with a pair of goals, including one two seconds before the break as the Tigers led 7-4 at intermission. Stevenson and Laczkovics opened the third quarter with goals in the first two minutes as Pacific led 9-4.
In the fourth, Clappis hit the back of the cage but Air Force cut the gap to 10-7 before the Tigers slammed the door with goals by Laczkovics and Vogel.
Max Benson finished with 13 saves in goal for the Falcons, which fall to 1-2 on the year.
Stevenson leads Pacific with 10 goals in three games for the Tigers. Laczkovics has six goals in three games, with back-to-back multiple goal games. All 14 field players on the travel roster have scored through three matches.
The Tigers will face No. 2 USC at 3:10 p.m. at Canyonview Pool. The Trojans, which squeaked past Pacific in last December's NCAA national championship game in overtime, are also off to a 3-0 start. USC has trounced its competition at the Triton Invite, by a combined score of 70-15 in wins over UC Davis, LaVerne and Redlands.
