CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The Augustana Vikings men's water polo team dropped to the top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on Saturday in the semifinals of the Division III National Championships by a score of 12-7.

In the first period, CMS found the back of the net first, but the Vikings followed with two of their own from Ian Palmroos to take the early 2-1 lead. The Stags evened the score before Mark Addision and Stevan Rasic tallied goals to put Augie ahead once more by a score of 4-2. CMS collected two in the final 30 seconds of action to even the 4-4 after the first eight minutes of play.

The Stags notched a goal early to take the one-point advantage before CMS found two more four minutes later. The Vikings remained scoreless until the final second of the half, when Cole Faux found the back of the net to make a score of 7-5 entering the halftime break. 

Returning to action, the home team put up three more points in the third and held Augie to nothing. The Vikings saw six shot attempts from Tyler Leslie, Faux, James Davis, Mason Landes, and two from Oskar Bannister. 

In the final period, the teams traded shots before Rasic found the back of the net to make a 11-6. With 2:53 on the game clock, Addison notched his second goal, but CMS closed out the game with a shot of their own. 

Addison, Palmroos, and Rasic tallied two goals, while Ben Symington had two assists and Declan Hutton stole two possessions. In the net, Hutton saved 14 attempts in his 32 minutes for Augustana. 

With the loss, Augie moves to 17-9 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow to battle MIT in the third place matchup.