California Baptist University
Azusa Pacific
SENIOR SENDOFF
4/7/2011 3:25:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif.--- Coming into tonight's match Rachel Esau had just 13 goals on the season. But after being honored on senior night she tallied three scores, all in the first half as the California Baptist women's water polo team improved to 22-11 after beating Azusa Pacific 15-6.
“It's always nice on senior night to get a win,” said Head Coach Jacob Medina. “It was nice for [Esau] to have a lot of her friends and have everyone watching… get that chance to shine.”
Kristen Post, Kylie Chevalier, and Esau were all honored before the game in front of the season's largest crowd on Student-Athlete day at the Lancer Aquatic Center.
Esau opened the match with a goal less than thirty seconds in, while fellow honoree Post had a 6-on-5 save and three total stops in the first. Esau's second score gave the Lancers a 2-0 advantage before Mallory Montano and Alyssa Birch added goals to give the home team a 4-1 lead to end the first quarter. Christina Webb opened the second with a goal and scored again with a 5-meter to extend the lead to 6-1.
Moments later Molly Gritchen's fastbreak score put CBU ahead 7-1. APU's Ivonne Garcia finally broke the Lancers' four goal streak, but Webb responded with another goal to give the sophomore a second quarter hat trick for an 8-2 CBU lead.
Esau then followed suit with a backhanded goal; marking her second hat trick of the season and fifth of her career. APU (13-12) got another goal closing the half with a 9-3 score in favor of the Lancers.
The second half was much of the same, only with different scorers. Petra Kovacs came out shooting, scoring twice in the first two minutes to give CBU an 11-3 lead. Webb's fourth goal of the game gave the Lancers a 12-3 lead forcing the Cougars to call timeout.
Nicole Berry and Kim Latschaw each found the back of the net to make the score 14-3 heading into the final eight minutes. Briana Tryon's goal gave CBU a 12-score lead, but APU didn't quit.
The Cougars rattled off three straight goals to end the match at 15-6, but the rally was much too little and far too late.
Nine different Lancers scored in the match and three had multiple goals. Post registered nine saves in her final regular season home match.
“Having Kristen play a good game was a [great] final contest to go out on,” said Medina.
The Lancers will now head to Northridge for a doubleheader against No. 15 UCSB and No. 16 Cal State Northridge.
“Playing in Northridge's pool is always tough,” said Medina. “They're the last top-20 teams we play all year so we want to try and get a win.”
CBU will finish its 2011 campaign by hosting the NAIA Invitational where the Lancers hope to maintain their spot atop the NAIA.
“Next weekend it's important that we defend our place within the NAIA as the best team. APU can play a good game; we just had their number tonight,” said Medina.
The Invite will begin on April 15 at 9 a.m.
