Saturday, November 13
Riverside
9 a.m.
California Baptist University
14
vs
11
Fresno Pacific
IN THE BOOKS
11/14/2010 2:16:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- One of the most successful seasons in California Baptist University history came to somewhat of a disappointing end Saturday, as No. 15 CBU fell to No. 20 Concordia in the championship game of the NAIA Invite.
The Lancers suffered a heart-breaking 6-5 loss to the Eagles after defeating Concordia in the teams' previous two meeting's this season.
Aaron Steiger's 400th career goal, a clutch late score from Peter Hines and two brilliant defensive plays were not enough to overcome the Eagles as Alan Ogden's shot with seconds remaining was saved by Martin Babovic.
“You can't let the final game define a season, as disappointing as it may be,” said Head Coach Rick Rowland, who wraps up his 11th season at the helm for the Lancers. “I'm very proud of this team. The guys worked hard all year. They were consistently the highest ranked team we've ever had and probably the strongest team we've had at CBU.”
Steiger's milestone goal came at the 2:44 mark in the third quarter with the Lancers trailing 5-3. The senior grabbed a pass thrown in front of him and in one motion rose up and fired a shot past the defender who had been draped all over him, into the back of the net, drawing CBU to within one.
Concordia nearly took the two-goal lead back in the fourth quarter, but Austen Ramer made probably his finest save of the night, using every inch of his 6'3” frame to stop an Eagle shot. After CBU could not convert on its next possession, Concordia brought the ball down with less than a minute to play. Just seconds into the possession Alan Ogden made a quick move on an errant Eagle pass to get the ball back.
CBU got a 6-on-5 opportunity on the next possession and after two quick passes around the perimeter the ball was dumped in to Hines. With four defenders converging Hines flicked the ball behind him for the score knotting the match at 5-5 with 1:06 remaining.
The game remained tied until Duje Grubisic fired a shot from the left side to give the Eagles the lead with :26 seconds to play.
CBU had one last possession and after drawing an ejection on the Eagles called timeout to set up one last play. After a couple of passes, Ogden received the ball on the right side and fired a shot, but was denied by the quick hands of Babovic.
“We played very good defense in this final game only allowing six goals,” said Rowland. “The offense just wasn't there for us. It comes down to the fact that they were able to capitalize on one more opportunity than we were. That's the difference.
Seeing Aaron score his 400th career goal in his final game was great. He has had a great career and has set a mark that I'm sure won't be broken any time soon. I would have loved to send our seniors off with a win, but nothing can take away from what they have accomplished during their time here.”
Steiger, Ogden and Greg Smith all played in their final games at the Lancer Aquatic Center.
CBU and Concordia had each won their games earlier in the day to enter the final contest 2-0 at the NAIA Invite.
The Lancers defeated Fresno Pacific 14-11 in Saturday's early game.
Steiger, who entered the day at 396 career goals, scored two against Fresno Pacific and two more against Concordia. Ogden had three goals against the Sunbirds giving him 175 career scores.
Evan Vardayou and Brent Troutman both scored in the final game for CBU. Chris Toy scored four goals to lead the Lancers against Fresno Pacific.
Ramer and Steiger were each named to the NAIA Invite All-Tournament first team and Ogden and Toy were named to the second team.
“We are losing a lot of talent to graduation, but we have young guys coming up who are already making an impact,” said Rowland. “Hopefully this motivates those guys to work hard this offseason and come back fired up for another great run next year.”
CBU finishes the season with a program best 32-6 record. Concordia finishes at 15-13.
The Lancers scored wins over such ranked teams as Princeton, Air Force, Pomona-Pitzer and Concordia this season. CBU also had hard fought games against then No. 1 USC and then No. 5 UC Irvine this year. Five of the team's six losses were to ranked opponents.
Tournament Co-MVP's:
Alex Donavan (Concordia)
Milos Skaljac (Concordia)
NAIA Invite All-Tournament team:
First Team
Israel Perez (Vanguard)
Riley Warner (Fresno Pacific)
Aaron Steiger (California Baptist)
Austen Ramer (California Baptist)
Caleb Hamilton (Concordia)
Martin Babovic (Concordia)
Second Team
Kevin Burzynski (Vanguard)
Ray Eggart (Fresno Pacific)
Glenn Lyon (Fresno Pacific)
Alan Ogden (California Baptist)
Chris Toy (California Baptist)
Duje Grubisic (Concordia)
Jacob Prill (Concordia)
The Lancers suffered a heart-breaking 6-5 loss to the Eagles after defeating Concordia in the teams' previous two meeting's this season.
Aaron Steiger's 400th career goal, a clutch late score from Peter Hines and two brilliant defensive plays were not enough to overcome the Eagles as Alan Ogden's shot with seconds remaining was saved by Martin Babovic.
“You can't let the final game define a season, as disappointing as it may be,” said Head Coach Rick Rowland, who wraps up his 11th season at the helm for the Lancers. “I'm very proud of this team. The guys worked hard all year. They were consistently the highest ranked team we've ever had and probably the strongest team we've had at CBU.”
Steiger's milestone goal came at the 2:44 mark in the third quarter with the Lancers trailing 5-3. The senior grabbed a pass thrown in front of him and in one motion rose up and fired a shot past the defender who had been draped all over him, into the back of the net, drawing CBU to within one.
Concordia nearly took the two-goal lead back in the fourth quarter, but Austen Ramer made probably his finest save of the night, using every inch of his 6'3” frame to stop an Eagle shot. After CBU could not convert on its next possession, Concordia brought the ball down with less than a minute to play. Just seconds into the possession Alan Ogden made a quick move on an errant Eagle pass to get the ball back.
CBU got a 6-on-5 opportunity on the next possession and after two quick passes around the perimeter the ball was dumped in to Hines. With four defenders converging Hines flicked the ball behind him for the score knotting the match at 5-5 with 1:06 remaining.
The game remained tied until Duje Grubisic fired a shot from the left side to give the Eagles the lead with :26 seconds to play.
CBU had one last possession and after drawing an ejection on the Eagles called timeout to set up one last play. After a couple of passes, Ogden received the ball on the right side and fired a shot, but was denied by the quick hands of Babovic.
“We played very good defense in this final game only allowing six goals,” said Rowland. “The offense just wasn't there for us. It comes down to the fact that they were able to capitalize on one more opportunity than we were. That's the difference.
Seeing Aaron score his 400th career goal in his final game was great. He has had a great career and has set a mark that I'm sure won't be broken any time soon. I would have loved to send our seniors off with a win, but nothing can take away from what they have accomplished during their time here.”
Steiger, Ogden and Greg Smith all played in their final games at the Lancer Aquatic Center.
CBU and Concordia had each won their games earlier in the day to enter the final contest 2-0 at the NAIA Invite.
The Lancers defeated Fresno Pacific 14-11 in Saturday's early game.
Steiger, who entered the day at 396 career goals, scored two against Fresno Pacific and two more against Concordia. Ogden had three goals against the Sunbirds giving him 175 career scores.
Evan Vardayou and Brent Troutman both scored in the final game for CBU. Chris Toy scored four goals to lead the Lancers against Fresno Pacific.
Ramer and Steiger were each named to the NAIA Invite All-Tournament first team and Ogden and Toy were named to the second team.
“We are losing a lot of talent to graduation, but we have young guys coming up who are already making an impact,” said Rowland. “Hopefully this motivates those guys to work hard this offseason and come back fired up for another great run next year.”
CBU finishes the season with a program best 32-6 record. Concordia finishes at 15-13.
The Lancers scored wins over such ranked teams as Princeton, Air Force, Pomona-Pitzer and Concordia this season. CBU also had hard fought games against then No. 1 USC and then No. 5 UC Irvine this year. Five of the team's six losses were to ranked opponents.
Tournament Co-MVP's:
Alex Donavan (Concordia)
Milos Skaljac (Concordia)
NAIA Invite All-Tournament team:
First Team
Israel Perez (Vanguard)
Riley Warner (Fresno Pacific)
Aaron Steiger (California Baptist)
Austen Ramer (California Baptist)
Caleb Hamilton (Concordia)
Martin Babovic (Concordia)
Second Team
Kevin Burzynski (Vanguard)
Ray Eggart (Fresno Pacific)
Glenn Lyon (Fresno Pacific)
Alan Ogden (California Baptist)
Chris Toy (California Baptist)
Duje Grubisic (Concordia)
Jacob Prill (Concordia)
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