CLAREMONT — Winning a national championship is a great moment for any team. Doing it at home against your biggest rival makes the feeling that much sweeter. The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s water polo team worked hard down the stretch to earn the right to host this year’s USA Water Polo Divisi on III national tournament. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps goalie Jack Taylor, (#1), blocks a shot against Pomona-Pitzer’s (#), in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Nick Kennedy (#12), takes a shot on goal against Pomona-Pitzer, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Nick Kennedy (#12), celebrates after scoring a goal against Pomona-Pitzer, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Pomona-Pitzer’s Jaden Winters, (#29), looks to shot the ball against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Pomona-Pitzer goalie Greg Moore (#1), reaches for the block as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scores a goal, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Thomas Walker, jumps into the pool with head coach Greg Lonzo, after defeating Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps water polo head coach Greg Lonzo (center), celebrates with his team after defeating Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 7Claremont-Mudd-Scripps goalie Jack Taylor, (#1), blocks a shot against Pomona-Pitzer’s (#), in the USA Water Polo Division III men’s water polo national championship game, at Axelrood Aquatics Center in Claremont on Sunday, December, 7, 2025. CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 9-4, to win the title. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer) Expand Sunday afternoon at the Axelrood Pool, the Stags used the energy from their supporters and put together a fourth quarter of total dominance. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scored the final five goals of the match and pulled away for a 9-4 victory over Sixth Street rival Pomona-Pitzer to claim its second Division III national title in three years. Pomona-Pitzer beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 10-9 in overtime in the regular season, but the Stags avenged the loss with a 13-11 victory in the SCIAC tournament final. “We did a great job protecting our cage and our home court,” Claremont-Mudd-Scripps coach Greg Lonzo said. “That was the goal when we played them two weeks ago in the SCIAC tournament final. The opportunity to host this tournament, be in our pool and be with our fans, that really made a difference for us during the second half.” Lonzo praised his team’s combined defensive effort, starting with senior goalkeeper Jake Taylor, who finished Sunday’s championship match with 13 saves. The Stags (24-5) also recorded nine field blocks. Pomona-Pitzer was held scoreless for the first 10 minutes and 50 seconds and for the final 7 minutes and 39 seconds. “The game plan was I was going to take about 70-80% percent of the cage and trust the blockers to take the other 20-30%,” Taylor said of Sunday’s defensive strategy. Junior attacker Nick Kennedy helped Claremont-Mudd-Scripps get off to strong start, scoring goals on two of the first three possessions to give the Stags an early lead. Pomona-Pitzer (20-14) settled in and held the Stags scoreless for an 11-minute stretch across the first and second period. The Sagehens finally got on the board when sophomore Max Distaso scored with 3:10 left to halftime. Pomona-Pitzer tied the score 2 1/2 minutes later when sophomore Darragh Flanders scored on a power play. CMS regained the lead just before halftime, as junior Stryker Scales scored off an assist from senior Thomas Walker with 21 seconds remaining. Goals remained at a premium in the third quarter. Freshman Jaden Winters brought Pomona-Pitzer even again with a goal, but CMS regained the lead 2 minutes later after Kennedy scored his third goal. Pomona-Pitzer freshman Jake Lee scored with 39 seconds on the clock to knot the score and set up a final showdown for the title. Junior Gavin Netherton squeezed a shot inside the near post to give CMS a 6-5 lead within the first minute of the fourth quarter, and senior Donovan Davidson scored another goal on a power play with 4:02 remaining to double the lead. Pomona-Pitzer got quality looks, but five were saved by Taylor and two others were field blocked. Kennedy notched his fourth and fifth goals within a span of 45 seconds to end the suspense. Walker added a goal with 18 seconds to play to cap the dominant finish. “The rivalry (with Pomona-Pitzer) is really strong,” Lonzo said. “That loss in the regular season was a tough one but also gave us a lot of resolve. It made us focus a little heavier and take the details very seriously. It showed two weeks ago, and it showed again today.” Kennedy, who also led the Stags with four field blocks, credited the home crowd for the team’s strong play down the stretch. “This is the biggest crowd we’ve played for,” Kennedy said of the standing-room audience with rooters from both sides. “Even if you’re tired or mentally unfocused in the fourth quarter, it’s easy to start feeding off that energy coming from the crowd. You put in that extra stroke, made an extra fake and show a bit more resolve on defense.” Related Articles USC, UCLA men’s water polo teams reach NCAA title match ...read more read less