Friday, April 29
San Diego, Calif.
12:00 PM
California Baptist University
13
vs
5
Azusa Pacific
Photo by: Sammi Wellman
Keep On Rowland
4/29/2016 1:08:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
SAN DIEGO — Rivals California Baptist University and Azusa Pacific closed out the regular-season together last week and welcomed the postseason Friday in the first game of the Golden Coast Conference Championship Tournament. It was a good welcome for the No. 23-ranked Lancers as they grabbed a 13-5 win over the Cougars.
With the win at San Diego State, CBU improves to 22-10 on the year, the most wins in a season since becoming a fully-fledged NCAA member. APU drops to 10-21 overall with their second-straight defeat to the Lancers.
Valerie Spezzaferri scored a game-high five goals and assisted on another for the Lancers. Hannah Evans notched a hat trick of her own, with three goals and an assist. Paizlee Dreyer assisted on three goals and recorded one of her own, while Laura Kocsis scored twice, as well, for CBU.
"When we have that many people shooting well and scoring, it makes us hard to defend," Coach Jon Miller said. "Our balance was great today and that was a big part of how well the offense played.
"Obviously, Valerie kind of led the charge today with those five goals."
CBU advances to play second-seeded and 16th-ranked Pacific, which defeated seventh-seed Fresno Pacific 13-4 on Friday – in Saturday's semifinal matchup at 1:30 p.m. The winner of that game gets a shot at the GCC Championship Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
"It came down to the wire the last time we played Pacific," Miller said. "It's going to be close again, there is not a lot of separation between these top-three teams in the conference, but I think we know the mistakes we made against them last time and will be able to correct them."
APU got the first shot off in the game, but CBU was the first to capitalize. Kocsis scored just over a minute into the match off an assist from Dreyer.
Meghan Rowland — who finished with 13 saves and four steals on the day — made a quick save on the next two APU possessions and the Lancers forced a turnover to jump back on the attack. Rowland put the Lancers on the counter, leading Evans, the GCC Player of the Year, with a quick outlet. Evans passed off to Spezzaferri on the other side of the pool and the junior driver skipped in the second goal of the game.
APU cut it to 2-1 on a 6-on-5 opportunity, but Evans put the Lancers back in front by two just seconds later. Spezzaferri added another insurance goal, skipping in a shot past the Cougar goalie to put her team in front 4-1.
Rowland made three crucial saves in the first quarter alone to keep her team out in front as the Lancers held a 4-2 lead after the first.
"Meghan has been really consistent for us all season, and especially down the stretch here," Miller said. "When she puts up the kind of numbers she did today, it is really hard for other teams to even score on us."
Neither team could put a shot into the cage early in the second quarter until Evans took advantage of another quick outlet pass from Rowland. Sprinting toward the goal with Dreyer and just one defender, Evans found the opening and rattled in her shot to extend CBU's lead to 5-2 going into halftime.
"Our offense played really well early and capitalized on our opportunities," Miller said. "We did a good job of making adjustments on defense at halftime to hold them to just two goals in the final three quarters."
Just seconds into the second half, Dreyer rattled in a shot to spark a scoring flurry. APU responded with a goal of its own, but the Lancers went off on a 4-0 run to take a commanding 10-3 edge heading into the final minutes of action.
Kocsis kept the run going into the fourth, tucking a near-post shot in to start the period, followed by Spezzaferri's fifth goal of the game with just seconds left on the shot clock, 12-3.
The Cougars managed to break the 6-0 spree with a goal, but Caroline Howard (one assist) put away a wide-open look on a power play to make it 13-4.
Once again, APU responded, but Kaitlyn Persky capped the scoring with a no-look shot to secure the 13-5 win for the Lancers.
With the win at San Diego State, CBU improves to 22-10 on the year, the most wins in a season since becoming a fully-fledged NCAA member. APU drops to 10-21 overall with their second-straight defeat to the Lancers.
Valerie Spezzaferri scored a game-high five goals and assisted on another for the Lancers. Hannah Evans notched a hat trick of her own, with three goals and an assist. Paizlee Dreyer assisted on three goals and recorded one of her own, while Laura Kocsis scored twice, as well, for CBU.
"When we have that many people shooting well and scoring, it makes us hard to defend," Coach Jon Miller said. "Our balance was great today and that was a big part of how well the offense played.
"Obviously, Valerie kind of led the charge today with those five goals."
CBU advances to play second-seeded and 16th-ranked Pacific, which defeated seventh-seed Fresno Pacific 13-4 on Friday – in Saturday's semifinal matchup at 1:30 p.m. The winner of that game gets a shot at the GCC Championship Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
"It came down to the wire the last time we played Pacific," Miller said. "It's going to be close again, there is not a lot of separation between these top-three teams in the conference, but I think we know the mistakes we made against them last time and will be able to correct them."
APU got the first shot off in the game, but CBU was the first to capitalize. Kocsis scored just over a minute into the match off an assist from Dreyer.
Meghan Rowland — who finished with 13 saves and four steals on the day — made a quick save on the next two APU possessions and the Lancers forced a turnover to jump back on the attack. Rowland put the Lancers on the counter, leading Evans, the GCC Player of the Year, with a quick outlet. Evans passed off to Spezzaferri on the other side of the pool and the junior driver skipped in the second goal of the game.
APU cut it to 2-1 on a 6-on-5 opportunity, but Evans put the Lancers back in front by two just seconds later. Spezzaferri added another insurance goal, skipping in a shot past the Cougar goalie to put her team in front 4-1.
Rowland made three crucial saves in the first quarter alone to keep her team out in front as the Lancers held a 4-2 lead after the first.
"Meghan has been really consistent for us all season, and especially down the stretch here," Miller said. "When she puts up the kind of numbers she did today, it is really hard for other teams to even score on us."
Neither team could put a shot into the cage early in the second quarter until Evans took advantage of another quick outlet pass from Rowland. Sprinting toward the goal with Dreyer and just one defender, Evans found the opening and rattled in her shot to extend CBU's lead to 5-2 going into halftime.
"Our offense played really well early and capitalized on our opportunities," Miller said. "We did a good job of making adjustments on defense at halftime to hold them to just two goals in the final three quarters."
Just seconds into the second half, Dreyer rattled in a shot to spark a scoring flurry. APU responded with a goal of its own, but the Lancers went off on a 4-0 run to take a commanding 10-3 edge heading into the final minutes of action.
Kocsis kept the run going into the fourth, tucking a near-post shot in to start the period, followed by Spezzaferri's fifth goal of the game with just seconds left on the shot clock, 12-3.
The Cougars managed to break the 6-0 spree with a goal, but Caroline Howard (one assist) put away a wide-open look on a power play to make it 13-4.
Once again, APU responded, but Kaitlyn Persky capped the scoring with a no-look shot to secure the 13-5 win for the Lancers.
Players Mentioned
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water PoloCalifornia Baptist WWP vs Azusa Pacific University
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California Baptist WWP vs University of the Pacific
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California Baptist WWP vs CSUN
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