Lancers Answer Late at Invite

Friday, September 30

Riverside, Calif.

2:30 PM

California Baptist University

Citrus

Photo by: Nyck Yashiro

Lancers Answer Late at Invite

9/30/2016 9:32:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – There was some adversity for California Baptist University to overcome in both of its Lancer Invite games versus Citrus and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, but it did just that.

After a close first quarter with the Owls in the afternoon, CBU found itself trailing the Stags at halftime in the evening. No matter who stood in their way, the Lancers found a way to win, defeating Citrus 20-7 in the opener and CMS 11-8 to end the night.

"We have confidence in the fact that if we do what we're supposed to do, the game is there for the taking," Coach Kevin Rosa said. "We just weren't executing as well as we should. We just need to execute early in the games and remain consistent all the way through."

The Lancers resume play at their home tournament on Saturday, facing Whittier at 10:40 a.m. and Concordia at 2:40 p.m. CBU improves to 7-6 and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps drops to 4-9 on the year.

A slow first quarter was quickly overcome by CBU in game one against Citrus, but CMS posed a much bigger threat a week after the Lancers had defeated the Stags 18-9. Bench play, especially that of junior transfer Caleb Rogers, provided a huge lift to propel CBU to victory in the nightcap, which started an hour after its original start time due to overtime and delays in the earlier games.

"Last week, we came out with a quicker pace but tonight we let them set it early," Rogers said. "We snapped out of it in the second half, thank goodness, and started playing like ourselves again."

"The bench play was good," Rosa said. "They were bringing a lot more energy tonight, and I subbed a lot more tonight to get them in there. Those guys are coming in fighting for minutes and they know when they do good things, they're going to get rewarded."

CMS found itself ahead, 5-4, with 2:44 to play in the third quarter, but the Lancer reserves helped knot the score exactly 30 seconds later. True freshman Matthew Diacono drew an exclusoin on CBU's next possession, and fellow true freshman Kyle Johnson scored on the powerplay off a Rogers assist.

Thirty-four seconds later, Rogers gave the Lancers their first lead of the game when he cashed in an outlet pass from Joseph Moorman to make it 6-5 with 1:40 remaining. The Stags appeared poised to force another tie when they drew an exclusion at the other end, but Rogers stole away the powerplay, drew an ejection in transition and then scored on a Tanner Shore assist to give his team a 7-5 lead with 49 seconds left in the third.

"Everything clicked in the right way in those moments, and I was hustling down the pool," Rogers said. "Coach preaches that all week, all season in practice."

"Caleb definitely gave us some energy, that's for sure," Rosa said. "He really lit a fire there in that third quarter, with two nice goals coming down the four-five side of the pool."

CMS managed to make it a one-goal game heading into the fourth, but the Lancers scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Thomas Henline, Diacono, Dominick Nevarez and Teddy Forte all contributed to the 4-0 run.

Rogers and Forte tied for the team-high in goals for the game, with two each, while Rogers added an assist. Shore put up three assists and two steals in the victory, while nine different Lancers scored in the contest.

"It's not easy to bring that energy from the bench," Rogers said. "I've been on teams where the bench feels neglected and they drag, but we know there are weapons in every rotation and it fires everyone up and makes everyone that much sharper."

Last year, Citrus pulled out a narrow win over CBU at the Lancer Invite. While the Owls managed to keep it close in the first quarter, the Lancers were not going to let history repeat itself.

An 11-2, second-to-third-quarter run ensured CBU would prevail over the Owls in the team's opener. Nine different Lancers scored in the win, and four of them finishing with hat tricks or better. Teraoka and Nevarez scored a game-high four goals in three quarters, while Rogers and Forte added three each and Elad Gunya chipped in two more.

Citrus took a 3-2 lead when it scored first in the second period. The Lancers responded well and embarked on the biggest run of the contest.

Teraoka started the Lancers' charge, with consecutive goals over a 1:26 span to put CBU back in front, 4-3. Nevarez brought about the first multi-goal lead of the game, 5-3, scoring off a Luke Schuler steal and outlet assist from Moorman.

Citrus responded to pull back within one, but Diacono helped deal a backbreaker to the Owls. He grabbed an offensive rebound off a Nevarez shot and dished it back out to Nevarez, who found Kyle Rasmussen across the pool for an easy weak-side goal to make it 6-4 with 2:13 to play in the half.

Gunya made it a three-goal game on a penalty shot, and Moorman set up two more CBU goals with blocks and outlet passes. The first led to a spinning, backhand goal from Forte when the goalie came out too far from his cage, and the next produced a Gunya score from center to make it 9-4 Lancers at the break.

CBU ended any hope of a comeback by scoring the first four goals of the third period, too. A five-meter penalty drawn by Logan Mena and barred-in by Forte gave CBU the first goal of the third and a 10-4 advantage. About two minutes later, Rogers scored with a defender all over him to convert off an outlet from backup goalie Matt Miller (six saves, two quarters).

A transition goal scored by Nevarez and assisted on a cross-cage pass from Sargis made it 12-4. Sargis scored shortly thereafter, getting up on transition and scoring off a rebound from his own first shot.

CITRUS BOX SCORE

CMS BOX SCORE