SWEEPING FINISH

Saturday, April 16

Riverside

12:30 PM

California Baptist University

Vanguard University (Calif.)

4/17/2011 12:23:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

RIVERSIDE, Calif.--- The Lancers won their third NAIA Invitational, sweeping through the field, giving the California Baptist women's water polo team its highest win total in program history.

CBU (28-12) beat Vanguard 16-2, before Head Coach Jacob Medina notched his 100th career victory with a 15-9 win in the final over Concordia.

“It's great because it was with the seniors that I began with,” said Medina. “I'm never really nervous before a game, but this time I was. I wanted them to go out with a win.”

And a win it was, as the Lancers posted their 14th win in a row over Concordia, while Petra Kovacs scored eight times on the day to give her 108 on the year; the second highest total in program history.

In the first match the Lancers had little trouble beating Vanguard, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.

Kovacs recorded a hat trick less than four minutes in and grabbed her fourth goal at the 3:30 mark.

After CBU widened the gap to seven Vanguard applied an odd strategy, holding the ball at half tank before dumping it right before the shot clock.

The plan slowed the scoring down, but the Lancers would extend the streak to 12 before the Lions got on the board with less than two minutes to go in the first half.

Kylie Chevalier got the nod in the cage to open the second half as Kristen Post (who started at goalie) swam the sprint (and won) for CBU.

The final two quarters were pretty uneventful. Doris Tran, Rebecca Zens, and Emily Allen all registered scores, while Chevalier tallied three saves.

In the team's final match of the 2011 season the Lancers faced a Concordia squad that took CBU to the brink in a 9-8 OT win on Feb. 23rd.

Kovacs scored in less than a minute and Gritchen followed that up 30 seconds later to give CBU a 2-0 lead.

Kovacs' lob gave the Lancers a 3-0 advantage, but Lybov Tchougounova answered with two straight lobs of her own to put the Eagles within one.

CBU got another goal from Gritchen to put the Lancers in front at 4-2 at the first break.

Kovacs registered her second hat trick of the day early in the second quarter as CBU looked strong from the start. Tania Acavedo's two scores sandwiched a Concordia goal to give the Lancers a 7-2 lead.

Alyssa Birch got in on the action with her first of the match while Kovacs added another, putting the score at 9-3 with 1:47 left in the half.

The Eagles got a goal that tipped off Christina Webb and hovered just above the outstretched arms of Camryn Rogers to end the half trailing 4-9. Rogers had five saves in the match to give her 285 on the season, the fourth highest in school history.

Montano opened the third with a score, then four minutes later Morgan Barrows notched a goal and Medina cleared his bench as his team led 11-4.

Rachel Esau had a backhand goal following a Concordia score, as the Lancers weren't threatened all game. The final quarter saw the Eagles' Katherine Manderino rattle off three consecutive goals, but Concordia never got within range, giving CBU the 15-9 win.

Jacob Medina is now 100-58 in his first four years captaining the women's polo team. His .633 win percentage is the highest in a four-year span at CBU.

CBU will now make the transition to the NCAA and leave the NAIA as the nation's premiere program. The Lancers went 8-0 this season against NAIA teams and are a combined 30-0 all-time against NAIA opponents.