California Baptist University
Concordia (Calif.)
Sweet Senior Sendoff
4/20/2017 9:58:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — California Baptist University's Senior Night ended with a sweet 10-3 victory over Concordia University of Irvine Thursday to close out the water polo home season.
The Lancers improve to 16-12 on the season and 2-4 in Golden Coast Conference action, while Concordia drops to 7-18 overall and 0-6 in the GCC.
Paizlee Dreyer led the team with five -- half of the team total -- goals and fellow senior Valerie Spezzaferri followed with two. Lizette Perez and Jessica Castellano had one goal a piece, along with a surprising score from goalie Lina Medeiros, who contributed with her first ever career goal and finished the game with nine saves and five steals.
A trio of seniors scored to give the Lancers the 3-1 lead by the end of the first quarter after Concordia opened scoring on a penalty after three minutes of play. Dreyer was quick on the response with a goal of her own less than a minute later. The highlight of the quarter came with just under three minutes left when Medeiros found the back of the cage, launching a shot from the cage into the opposing team's and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Spezzaferri scored shortly after, capitalizing on a penalty shot.
"Lizette was up and then she wasn't, and the goalie didn't go back into the cage," Medeiros said of her goal. "I just went for it."
The second quarter started with a pair of exclusions on both ends to force a Lancer timeout. CBU regained its footing after the break and Perez found the net on the man-up advantage, 4-1. Spezzaferri found the hand of Dreyer for a catch and shoot to extend the Lancers' lead to four goals.
Before the quarter came to an end, the ball found the hands of Jocelyn Schwegler off a turnover who dished it over to Dreyer once again, allowing Dreyer to coast the ball to the back of the net with her second goal in less than a minute, 6-1.
While Spezzaferri opened the third with a quick goal, the Eagles managed to score, pulling within 7-2. Dreyer immediately responded with another goal 20 seconds later and again a minute later to close out the third quarter ahead 9-2.
CUI tried to put together some offense in the fourth, scoring a goal with 4:22 left to play, Castellano got the last word in for the Lancers to close out the game 10-3.
The Lancers will close out GCC action at Azusa Pacific University Saturday at 11 a.m. before heading to Santa Clara, Calif., for the GCC Championship Tournament April 28-30.
