Shore Shoots For Win Versus Eagles

Wednesday, September 20

Riverside, Calif.

12:00 PM

California Baptist University

Concordia (Calif.)

Photo by: Leanda du Bruyn

Shore Shoots For Win Versus Eagles

9/20/2017 4:18:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – California Baptist University's opened its home season with two games on Wednesday, hosting Concordia (Irvine) and UC Irvine at the Lancer Aquatics Center.

It was a close call in game one, but the 15^th-ranked Lancers defeated Concordia 10-9, with Tanner Shore scoring the game winner in the waning minutes. Tenth-ranked UC Irvine pulled out a 21-4 victory in the nightcap, as the Anteaters improved to 6-2 and the Lancers moved to 7-5 on the year, with all five losses coming to top-15 ranked teams and four coming against top-10 competition.

"The first game, I thought we responded well and had a really good second and third quarter to get ourselves a comfortable lead," Coach Kevin Rosa said. "Our defense was much improved, we had good patience on offense and executed well to get a good lead.

"We were able to make one last play there in the fourth quarter to win it, but it would have been nice to shut the door on them."

Center Jonny Lotero scored six goals on the day, with five against Concordia. Ryan Sargis and Kyle Christian put two goals on the board, scoring in both games Wednesday. Goalies Gabe Thorne and Matt Miller rotated in both games, with Thorne logging 15 saves and three steals in 32 minutes.

Wednesday started a nine-game homestand for CBU. It will face Fresno Pacific for its second Western Water Polo Association match of the season Thursday, Sept. 28^th at 7 p.m. and will play six games over the next two days against USC, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Fresno Pacific, Citrus, Redlands and Occidental in the Lancer Invitational.

In Wednesday's opener, the Lancers led Concordia by five goals, 9-4, with 6:42 to play in regulation. The Eagles rallied and managed to tie the game back up at 9-9 with 1:38 remaining.

With CBU's starters back in the game, the home team looked to stop the Eagles' momentum for good. CUI put together a good defensive possession, but deep in the shot clock Shore fired off a shot from a tough angle to beat the Eagle goalie at the near post.

It was Shore's only goal of the game on six shots, but he picked the perfect time to come up clutch for the most important score of the contest.

"I saw that (center) Jonny Lotero was positioned on the other side and there were only a couple of seconds left. The goalie was drifting to the other side, it looked like he wasn't really looking at me so I took the shot and hit it, thankfully," said Shore, who did a great job of keeping himself in the game after he picked up two exclusions in the first quarter.

Despite being the focus of Concordia's defense, Lotero led CBU's offense with five goals in the game, half of his team's total on the scoreboard. The senior two-meter also drew three exclusions and came up with a turnover.

Shore, Caleb Rogers and Kyle Christian finished with a goal, assist and steal for the Lancers, with Christian logging two steals and two assists and Rogers forcing two turnovers.

Gabe Thorne came up with a number of big saves in the cage, with 10 blocks and a steal in the second half's 16 minutes. Matt Miller got the start and finished with five saves, two assists and a steal.

Thorne stopped a Concordia shot from point-blank range with 3:13 to go in the game. He then blocked the Eagles' final shot at overtime, which his defense did a good job funneling to him, in the waning seconds of regulation to secure the victory for good.

"I knew that for a second we were on our heels, but I knew if we just played our game we would pull through," Shore said. "I knew we had what it takes, sometimes you trip up like that but you just have to pull yourself out of it."

CBU scored 13 seconds into the game, as Christian fed Lotero in the post for a quick goal and 1-0 lead. Lotero's second goal with 4:47 left in the first quarter made it 2-1, but the Eagles added the next two goals for a 3-2 lead at the 2:36 mark.

Rogers and Matthew Diacono both found the back of the cage in the final 1:06 of the quarter to give CBU a 4-3 lead at the end of the frame. Those two late goals started a 4-1 Lancer run that went into the fourth quarter.

Both defenses tightened up in the second, but the Lancers produced both goals in the quarter to take a 6-3 advantage into halftime. Lotero netted his hat trick with 2:47 left in the first half, and Ryan Sargis punched in an easy goal off a Logan Mena pass at the 1:33 mark.

"I think the second quarter was our best quarter because we were moving on offense, we were getting the ball to Jonny and the defense was locked down," Shore said. "We adjusted and stopped them at their game."

CBU's offense looked crisp in the third quarter, as well, as Lotero scored two more times in the quarter to boost his team's lead to 8-3 with 4:46 to go in the third. Christian scored with 6:42 to play to keep it a five-goal Lancer lead, 9-4.