California Baptist University
Indiana University
Lancers Break Even On Day One
3/16/2013 3:58:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Equipped with a new defensive scheme and two dominant goalies, California Baptist University played two strong games on its way to a 1-1 record on day one of the second Lancer Invite.
Leticia Perez and Meghan Rowland both had stellar games in the cage for CBU, as they accumulated a combined 25 saves.
Perez held the No. 11 Indiana Hoosiers, the only ranked team in the tournament, to just six goals in regulation. The Lancers gave it their best shot, pushing the Hoosiers to overtime, but came up short, losing 9-8.
"On Thursday we spent the entire practice working on our defense and reevaluating what we wanted to do," said Head Coach Jacob Medina. "The Indiana game was the first time we ran this defense outside of practice, and we did a good job."
The new defense was stifling, and CBU was able to hold Indiana to just one goal per quarter over the final three quarters of regulation. The evidence of the new defense was an increased amount of field blocks.
Laura Kocsis led the Lancers with four goals, and Jakie Kohli tacked on four for the Hoosiers, including the go-ahead goal in the second overtime.
Four other players scored one goal a piece for CBU, including Raine Paul. Paul has stepped into a new role this week to fill in for injured two-meter player Kim Latschaw.
"Raine (Paul) has moved into a two-meter position, which is brand new for her," Medina said. "She is definitely stepping up, and we have had several other players that have been giving good minutes."
The loss against the Hoosiers dropped the Lancers to 10-12 on the year, but they quickly rebounded with a 14-2 win over St. Francis.
Game two was all about Rowland, who came in and increased her team leading saves numbers by 16.
She held the Terriers scoreless until there was just :43 left in the third
quarter.
She was not in the pool alone though, as the CBU offense was clicking on all cylinders. Hannah Evans and Kocsis led all scorers with four goals each. Evans is another player stepping up in the absence of Latschaw.
"She is starting to find that groove on how to play at this level," said Medina. "Now it is starting to click and she is doing a really good job in there."
Doris Tran, Molly Gritchen, Sydney Iturraran, Samantha Banks and Courtney Menard also found the cage for the Lancers.
CBU and five other schools finished 1-1 on day one of the invite, but Indiana, Iona and Marist each went 2-0 on the day to lead the tournament. Marist and Iona will continue play tomorrow at Redlands.
The Lancers have two more games tomorrow, they take on Concordia at 11:40 a.m. and Wagner at 5 p.m.
