California Baptist University
Redlands
No. 18 REDLANDS UPSET
10/31/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? For the second time this year California Baptist upset No. 18 Redlands with the Lancers pulling off a 9-7 win over the Bulldogs. The 20th-ranked Lancers (22-11) defeated the Bulldogs (17-11), Sept. 15, at the California Lutheran Tournament which broke a streak of four straight losses to Redlands. CBU has won three in a row and four of its last five games including two wins over ranked opponents. The Bulldogs mark the fourth higher ranked (Collegiate Water Polo Top 20) opponent the Lancers have defeated this season.
“We were extremely rusty after not having played a game for a week and a half,” said CBU head coach Rick Rowland. “In the first quarter we weren't running our offense and we weren't attacking. (Redlands) ran a really good isolation two-meter game and we seemed to get all the mismatches. Once we started getting pressure on the ball we started to get things turned around.”
Jon Miller led the defensive front with 13 saves, two assists and three steals as he helped Aaron Steiger set the tone for the Lancers' offense. Steiger, freshman from Placentia, Calif., scored a game-high four goals including the final goal of the game to put the contest away. Josh Harris added a pair of goals while Ryan Steiger, Alan Ogden and Chris Morgan all had single goals. Jason Bills also had three assists.
The Lancers fell behind 2-0 in the first quarter and then fell behind 3-0 early in the second before Aaron Steiger put the Lancers on the board. After Redlands made 4-1, CBU closed out the half with a 3-1 run to cut the deficit to 5-4. Steiger opened the third quarter with a goal tying the game at five and the Ryan Steiger later tied the game at six with 1:50 left in the third. Harris gave CBU its first lead with 51 seconds left as his goal gave the Lancers a 7-6 lead.
The Bulldogs tied the game less than a minute into the fourth on a Brendan Meaney goal, but Harris and Aaron Steiger put the finishing touches on the win with back-to-back goals. David Graves helped put CBU in one of those last scoring opportunities drawing an ejection that set up a 6-on-5 opportunity for the Lancers. Graves drew three ejections throughout the game. The Lancers as a team allowed just one goal on seven 6-on-5 opportunities by Redlands.
“The defense was stellar today,” said Rowland. “We knew what they were going to run on their 6-on-5s so we ran a different defense. We ran the defense well because we were ready for what they were going to do. Alan Ogden was the key to the attack on the defense and when we got the turnover he was off to the races on the offensive end.”
The Lancers will now travel to Malibu, Calif., to take on No. 5 Pepperdine, Saturday, at 2 p.m.
