California Baptist University
Santa Clara
Battle to the End
11/23/2013 1:03:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
DAVIS, Calif. – There was no doubt California Baptist University's second meeting with Santa Clara would provide plenty of dramatics.
Not only was it the first round of the Western Water Polo Association Championships, it was a matchup that produced a nail biter in the first chapter of the season series. The Lancers came close to securing a revenge win over the 14th-ranked Broncos and moving closer to a conference championship, but fell just short by a score of 10-9 Friday at UC Davis.
“It's tough for the seniors to finally get into this tournament and then not be able to play tomorrow,” head coach Rick Rowland said. “I wanted more for the seniors, but I am proud of the team. They battled and never quit.”
CBU will take a 15-16 record into its season finale, a fifth-place game with Air Force on Nov. 24 at 10:30 a.m. On the other side, Santa Clara improves to 16-14 overall heading into a WWPA semifinal game with second-seeded UC San Diego Saturday at 12:15 p.m.
“We have one more game to go with Air Force and a chance to close it out with a win,” Rowland said. “That's what we're going to try and do.”
Both games between CBU and Santa Clara were hotly contested this season, with the Broncos taking the first game at home, 10-8, on Oct. 24. That theme continued Friday, as it all came down to the last eight minutes, with the score tied at 7 headed into the fourth quarter.
The Broncos scored all four of their second-half goals on six-on-five opportunities. Santa Clara scored the first two goals of the fourth for a 9-7 edge with 4:16 to play in the game.
“We battled back and got it down to one goal," said Rowland. "We had a couple of opportunities to try and tie it up."
It all started with a man-advantage for the Lancers, as Cameron Custance rattled one home to pull CBU within one with 2:24 left. Another six-on-five tally from Santa Clara restored the two-goal lead with 1:47 to go.
David Ring scored the final of his team-high three goals for the Lancers to keep them within a shot, 10-9, with 1:29 remaining. CBU came up with a stop and generated a shot for Cody Wetherbee in the dwindling seconds, but it was blocked by Santa Clara goalie Matt Pritchett, who finished with 13 saves.
In addition to Ring's three goals, CBU received two goals each from Custance and Matt Puig, along with a goal each from Wetherbee and Jake Jizmejian.
Joseph Moorman drew praise from Rowland yet again after anchoring the Lancers' defense with 12 saves, including five in the third quarter.
CBU started strong and took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter after goals from Puig and Jizmejian 36 seconds in and with one second left in the frame, respectively. The Lancers also killed off two exclusions in the opening eight minutes.
Santa Clara rebounded to take a 3-2 lead at halftime before CBU answered back and won the third quarter, 5-4, highlighted by Ring's first two goals.
