California Baptist University
University of Redlands
CBU Explodes on Offense
3/10/2017 9:19:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Coming off a three-game winning streak, No. 25-ranked California Baptist University added two more to its tally Friday with a 13-1 win over University of Redlands and a 8-6 victory over Villanova University in day one of the Lancer Invite.
The Lancers improve their season to 12-8 while the Bulldogs drop to 4-8 and Villanova drops to 8-4.
Lina Medeiros had 23 saves on the day, while Grace Ramirez came in relief and posted a save.
Against Redlands, Paizlee Dreyer nabbed a hat trick before the half and Lizette Perez sealed her own hat trick in the third quarter. Valerie Spezzaferri, Pua Wong and Teralyn De Leeuw put two goals a piece on the board, while Katie Quon scored once.
The Lancers exploded onto the scene in the first half with eight unanswered points, leaving Redlands scoreless going into the third quarter. Perez, Spezzaferri and Dreyer dominated the first and second quarters with back-to-back goals. Redlands answered back with one goal in the third quarter, but the Lancer defense kept the home net untouched. Medeiros finished the game with four saves and Ramirez had one.
In the game against Villanova, Dreyer tallied another hat trick along with Annie Eubanks, who added a hat trick of her own. Perez and Abi Auer each scored one goal a piece.
Auer found the net in the first quarter, making her way past Villanova's defense off a breakaway to put CBU in the lead. The Wildcats took advantage of a 6-on-5 power play to tie up the game 1-1, but Eubanks took back the lead for CBU with a goal off a pass from Spezzaferri with 51 seconds left before heading into the second quarter.
A tight defense from both sides kept the second quarter scoreless until a goal from Villanova tied up the game once again. Dreyer responded immediately to maintain CBU's lead. After a three-minute standstill in the third, Auer took advantage of an error to steal the ball to drive into a breakaway to find Dreyer wide open at the net, giving CBU a two-point cushion.
The Wildcats answered back immediately with another goal, pulling within one, 4-3. Villanova found the back of the goal once again with 43 seconds left in the third quarter, once again tying up the match. Exactly 20 seconds later, Perez answered with a goal to regain the lead in CBU's favor to close out the quarter, 5-4.
Eubanks scored back-to-back goals to kick off the fourth quarter and start a fire under the Lancer offense. The Wildcats chased the lead down, scoring again to make the score 7-5, but the defense on CBU's end was sent into overdrive to stop any advancement by Villanova.
Dreyer once again fired a shot past the Villanova goalie to give CBU a three-point lead going into the last minutes of play. Villanova tried to close the gap with another goal pulling within two, but couldn't overcome the CBU defense as the Lancers took the game 8-6.
The Lancers continue the Invitational Saturday at 11:30 a.m. against Claremont-Mudd Scripps.
