LA JOLLA, Calif. – The 13^th-ranked UC Irvine men's water polo team defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 8-7, Saturday afternoon at the Triton Invitational.
 
The win was the second of the day for the 'Eaters who upset No. 9 UCSD 5-4 earlier in the day.
 
UCI stays unbeaten with a 2-0 record while CMS falls to 0-2.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Casey Lynton had a hat trick scoring a team-best four goals
> Daniel Norman, Bryant Joudrie, Ian Fleenor and Foster Hoose each tallied a goal
> Harrison Land played a complete game in goal and had eight saves
> Zack Rossman led CMS with three goals
 
TURNING POINTS
Quarter One
> The Staggs would score first at 3:41
> Norman got the 'Eaters on the board with one second left in the frame to knot the game, 1-1
 
Quarter Two
> Lynton fired in a goal for UCI at 7:22 to put the 'Eaters up 2-1
> The Staggs stormed back scoring three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead
> With nine seconds left before half, Lynton scored to make it a 4-3 game
 
Quarter Three
> The 'Eaters attacked out of halftime with a Joudrie goal just 30 seconds into play to make it 4-4
> CMS found an answer at 5:29 before Lynton tallied a goal just 15 seconds later to knot the game, 5-5
> The Staggs capped the frame with another goal to take a slight 6-5 lead into the final frame
 
Quarter Four
> UCI came alive in the fourth quarter outscoring the Staggs, 3-1
> Fleenor would score at 5:53 to tie the game, 6-6
> CMS fired in a goal making it 7-6 with 5:26 remaining
> Lynton notched his fourth goal of the day at 5:07 and Hoose would score the eventual game-winner at 3:12
> The Staggs took a late timeout to try to tie things up but UCI escaped with the win

WHAT HEAD COACH MARC HUNT HAD TO SAY
"We came away with two wins today, and that was the goal. Our second effort wasn't nearly as strong as our first. We came off a big win against UCSD, and went flat in the second game. CMS came at us hard and I respect their effort. It's good that we maintained our focus in that 4th quarter, and produced the win."
 
UP NEXT
> UCI plays No. T-5 Long Beach State tomorrow at 10:40 a.m.