Lancers Advance to Third-Straight WWPA Semifinal

Friday, November 17

La Jolla, Calif.

4:00 PM

California Baptist University

Loyola Marymount

Photo by: Matt Ressler

Lancers Advance to Third-Straight WWPA Semifinal

11/17/2017 5:08:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

BOX SCORE

LA JOLLA, Calif. – A hot start and strong finish fueled third-seeded California Baptist University to a 15-9 win over No. 6 seed Loyola Marymount in the first round of the Western Water Polo Association Championships at UC San Diego on Friday.

A balanced performance pushed the 17^th-ranked Lancers to victory and the WWPA Championship semifinals for the third year in a row. The Lancers improved to 21-12 and the Lions dropped to 6-20, with CBU moving on to face 12^th-ranked and second-seeded, tournament host UC San Diego (11-12) at 5:45 p.m. in Saturday's semifinals. The semifinal winner will advance to the championship game on Nov. 19 at 1 p.m., with the loser playing in the third-place game that day at 11:20 a.m.

Tanner Shore and Kyle Christian both scored hat tricks in the first half for CBU. Shore finished with four points on three goals, an assist and four steals, while Christian added two steals to his box score.

Thomas Henline notched five assists for the Lancers, who also received four points from Jonny Lotero (three goals, one assist), three from Dominick Nevarez (goal, two assists) and two points each from Christian Britton (goal, assist, steal); Logan Mena (goal, assist, three drawn ejections) and Caleb Rogers (two assists).

Matt Miller also had seven saves and two steals in three quarters in the cage for CBU. Gabe Thorne played the final eight minutes in goal and logged six saves in that span.

CBU started Friday on a 4-0 run, thanks to two goals from Christian and one each from Shore and Lotero. Henline had two of his assists in the opening run, while Lotero had one, as well.

LMU stopped the Lancers' run with consecutive goals of its own, but Shore scored twice two minutes into the second quarter to up CBU's lead to five, 7-2. The Lions stopped the run momentarily with a goal, but the Lancers finished the first half on a 3-1 run to increase their advantage to 11-4 at the break.

Christian scored a last-second goal before halftime, while Nevarez and Zach Lowery contributed to the run, with goals, as well.

The Lions came back and scored consecutive goals to start the second half to pull back within five, 11-6, with 1:39 to play in the third quarter. Lotero halted LMU's momentum with a goal off a Rogers assist on the ensuing possession to make it 12-6.

CBU put the game away with the first three goals in the fourth quarter. Britton started it out when he turned a bad look into a goal from the weak side of the pool, Lotero got his hat trick on a post-up in transition and then Luke Schuler scored off Henline's fifth assist with 3:16 remaining to make it 15-7.