CBU Counters Sunbirds For WWPA Win

Thursday, September 28

Riverside, Calif.

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

Fresno Pacific

Photo by: Conner Schuh

CBU Counters Sunbirds For WWPA Win

9/28/2017 9:28:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A furious counter and pass-happy offensive attack spurred 15^th-ranked California Baptist University to a lopsided 19-10 win over Fresno Pacific in Western Water Polo Association action Thursday night at the Lancer Aquatics Center.

Eighteen of CBU's goals came on assists, while 10 came in transition on Thursday, improving the Lancers to 8-5, 1-1 in the Western Water Polo Association. Several other CBU counters led to exclusions and goals, as the Sunbirds dropped to 1-6, 0-3 in the conference.

"We don't have selfish guys, they just worry about winning," Coach Kevin Rosa said of all of his team's passing. "Offensively, things were going well. We got the ball into center and when we get the ball to Jonny Lotero, normally good things happen. The counter attack looked really good at times, we did some things really well on the offensive end."

Caleb Rogers scored six goals in the win, which is tied for the 10^th most in CBU's single-game history. Lotero tallied six points, with four goals, two assists and four drawn exclusions for the Lancers, who received five and four points, respectively, from Tanner Shore (four assists, one goal) and Kyle Christian (three assists, one goal). Dominick Nevarez (two goals, one assists, three steals) and Joseph Galgani (one goal, two assists) both tallied three points in the win.

"We are finally getting the chemistry down," Rogers said. "We have just been working really hard in practice to get chemistry going on the four-five side and one-two side. It's all coming together and it was fun out there tonight."

The Lancers scored more than a goal a minute in the first quarter, taking a 9-4 lead at the end of eight minutes on a hat trick from Lotero and two of Rogers' goals. Fresno Pacific managed to stay in striking distance, down 6-4 with 2:57 left in the opening quarter, though.

Rosa called a timeout and challenged his team on the defensive end, and they responded. Thomas Henline drew an ejection out of the break, which led to a thunderous goal from Lotero, which shot out of the back of the cage out of his hand.

A Matt Miller save fed into a counter-attack goal from Rogers off a Ryan Sargis assist, making it 8-4 with 1:33 to play. Rogers scored again at the 56-second mark after he gobbled up a rebound off a Sargis shot and punched it in for a 9-4 lead at the break.

"No one is selfish here, especially at this level, it's seven guys on seven guys," Rogers said of all the assists on Thursday. "You're not at the level where one guy can win a game for you, and that unselfishness is the best instinct to have."

CBU scored the first three goals of the second quarter, thanks to Lotero, Rogers and Shore for a 12-4 lead with 5:40 remaining in the first half. Logan Mena and Matt Diacono would both score two-meter goals before the half was over to make it a 14-6 advantage.

There were a lot of minutes to go around for the Lancers, as their bench gave the starters a breather for most of the second half.

Mena finished with a goal, assist, steal and three drawn ejections, while Zach Lowery drew an exclusion and forced three turnovers in the game. Kyle Johnson notched a goal and two steals and Luke Schuler scored and assisted on the night. Kyle Rasmussen also picked up an assist and a steal.

"The bench got a lot of minutes, we tried to get everybody in and get them quality minutes in a conference game," Rosa said. "We are going to need everybody later on in the season, so it's good to get them in now."

CBU hosts the Lancer Joust Friday and Saturday, as it closes out its nine-game homestand with six games over the next two days. The Lancers get rematches with second-ranked USC Friday at noon and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which is ranked sixth in NCAA Division III, the same day at 4 p.m.

"That's what the weekend is for, there's no winner of the tournament, so the weekend is to get experience and improve," Rosa said. "We are playing some really good teams; there's a lot of water polo and a lot time for guys to get in there. Hopefully, they grab a hold of the opportunity and play well."

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