Scots Water Polo Clipped in Season Finale
Monmouth, IL (11/10/2019) — Senior Jesus Aguirre led Monmouth's scoring at the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Tournament held in Erie, Pa., but even his three-goal output in Sunday's finale couldn't propel the Scots in a narrow loss.
Playing the 9 a.m. match Sunday morning, the Scots were clipped by Washington and Jefferson 8-7. Monmouth had closed the gap on the Presidents since a 16-11 late September loss. W&J opened up a 2-1 lead in the first quarter before the Scots roared back with three straight goals. Aguirre netted his second goal of the game, Jared Hankinson and Joseph Addison each scored their first of two goals as Monmouth won the second quarter 3-0 to take a 4-2 lead into halftime. The Presidents turned the tables on the Scots in the third quarter, outscoring Monmouth 4-1 for a 6-5 advantage. Trailing in the final eight minutes, the Scots knotted it at 7-7 when Tommy Schneider fed Aguirre for his third goal of the match and 10th of the weekend, but W&J slipped in the game-winner with less than a minute left on the clock.
The weekend had opened with the Scots meeting McKendree for the third time this season. The Bearcats raced out to an 8-2 first quarter lead and took a 23-8 final to offset a four-goal effort from Aguirre.
Monmouth then faced Connecticut College Saturday afternoon, a team the Scots had lost to by five in late September. Kyle Jones turned in a weekend-high 15 saves, but the Camels came out on top of a 17-8 score. Aguirre and Hankinson had given Monmouth a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and goals by Moaddeli and another by Hankinson on his way to a three-goal game made it 4-1 after one. Connecticut fired back with a five-goal second quarter outburst to tie the game at 6-6 heading into the intermission. The Camels then outscored the Scots 11-2 in the second half to hang a loss on Monmouth.
Aguirre wrapped up his final campaign leading the Scots with 31 goals this season giving him 69 for his career to rank fourth all-time. Jones, a sophomore, posted 144 saves to move atop the career list with 305 saves in his first two seasons.