California Baptist University
Azusa Pacific
Sweet Victory
2/16/2013 4:21:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- At long last California Baptist University picked up its first win of the 2013 season, an 11-3 victory over Azusa Pacific at day one of the Lancer Invite.
"It has been a long start to the season," Head Coach Jacob Medina said. "It is nice to get that first win under our belt. Today we got off to a slow start, but eventually we ended up moving forward an executing."
Execute they did, as the Lancers notched their highest goal tally of the year, even though their leading scorer Hannah Evans did not play today.
Kim Latschaw continued to produce for CBU, putting three goals in the back of the cage in the game against APU. Morgan Barrows netted two goals in game one, her second and third of the year.
The most notable statistic from the first game was CBU's 6-on-5 defense, and the sheer amount of 6-on-5 opportunities they gave to APU.
The Lancers were called for 15 exclusions, the most they have been penalized this year. More importantly, they did not give up a single goal as a result of those exclusions. CBU was 2-4 in 6-on-5 chances.
Seven different Lancers scored against Azusa Pacific, Samantha Banks tallied two and Laura Kocsis, Raine Paul, Doris Tran and Briana Tryon each added one goal.
Meghan Rowland started the game and had two saves, and Leticia Perez came in at the half and picked up eight saves.
Game two was a different story as the Lancers took on the No. 11 Long Beach State 49ers. Nearly impenetrable goaltending held CBU to just three goals, and they lost 8-3.
"Long Beach is a tough team," Medina said. "I knew it would be a tough game for us. We played a good game, but there are some small adjustments here and there. It took us too long to get warmed up shooting."
Kelly Ringel led the 49ers with nine saves, and used some tough blocks to limit CBU's offense to just two Kocsis goals and one goal from Banks.
Long Beach State got goals from five different players, led by Christina Kotsia's three.
Rowland played the whole game in the cage for the Lancers compiling six saves and a couple steals.
"Defensively we did really well," said Medina. "Meghan (Rowland) did a great job in the goal. We did a great job with the drop we were running and we did a lot of good things. We just need to find the net a little bit more offensively."
CBU was 0-3 in their 6-on-5 chances against Long Beach State, and they held the 49ers to just 1-3.
The win and loss move CBU to 1-8 on the year, as they get set to play the No. 2 team in the country, USC, tomorrow at 1 p.m. They also take on CSU San Bernardino at 7:40 p.m. during day two of the Lancer Invite.
Games begin at 9 a.m. at the Lancer Aquatics Center, and scores can be viewed here directly after each game.
