
Unfinished Business
2/3/2013 6:57:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Head Coach Jacob Medina had to think twice before he stacked the California Baptist University women's water polo schedule so heavy as he did. Through their first eight games, the Lancers have played seven games against ranked opponents. After their two losses at the Lancer Mini Invite, they are feeling the pains of a tough schedule, having not won a game yet.
"We had our hands full, these were good, experienced, counter-attack teams," Medina said. "These are solid (NCAA) DI programs that are consistently in the top 10 or top 15 each year."
The Lancers faced No. 17 CSU Northridge and No. 6 UC Irvine. CBU created some opportunities and had great play in the goal each game, but could not muster enough offense to outscore either opponent. They suffered a 10-5 loss against CSUN and a 10-3 loss to UCI.
Meghan Rowland and Lina Medeiros held down the cage for the Lancers today, picking up a combined eight saves, and a bunch of steals.
"We are still working through our goalie situation right now," said Medina. "All three of our goalies have some great positives and all three have some things we need to work on."
Keeping balls out of their cage proved difficult against the Matadors and Anteaters, but getting balls in the opponent's cage was just as difficult for the Lancers.
Eight total goals did not cut it for CBU today. A big reason for the lack of offensive success has been a lack of conversion on 6-on-5 opportunities. The Lancers converted just 30 percent of their 6-on-5s at the tournament.
"We are still figuring out how to score. We are doing a lot of good things," said Medina. "We are getting the ball down the pool and drawing some exclusions, but we need to work one how to finish those chances."
Laura Kocsis led all Lancers with three goals on the day, while Samantha Banks and Kim Latschaw each tallied two.
The 0-7 Lancers will have time to tune up before the next hit the pool, as they are off until the next Lancer Invite, on Feb. 15-16.