CBU Riding High at Lancer Joust

Saturday, March 10

Riverside, Calif.

10:30 AM

California Baptist University

Fresno Pacific

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

CBU Riding High at Lancer Joust

3/10/2018 9:07:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

FPU BOX SCORE

GWU BOX SCORE

REDLANDS BOX SCORE

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A lot of rain could not spoil the Lancer Joust, as California Baptist University won all three games on Saturday at the Lancer Aquatics Center. The 24^th-ranked Lancers opened with a 12-7 victory over Fresno Pacific and then defeated George Washington 8-7 and Redlands 12-6.

CBU improves to 12-9 while stretching its win streak to five, winning nine of its last 11. Fresno Pacific drops to 7-1, Redlands to 3-10 and George Washington, which is on the cusp of the NCAA (Divisions I-III) top-25 to 6-5.

"It was everything we needed in those three games," Coach Jon Miller said. "We never play three games in a day, especially at this time in the season, it takes a lot of endurance and they did a good job."

The Lancers hit the road again next weekend to play four top-ranked teams at Loyola Marymount's Zumo Invite Friday and Saturday. CBU opens against ninth-ranked Michigan and No. 17 Princeton at 9:15 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively Friday. Next is No. 20 Harvard and No. 23 Marist on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.

All three wins came in different fashion for the Lancers Saturday. CBU pulled away in the second half with the Sunbirds, had to grind out a tough win versus the Colonials and controlled the Bulldogs without playing most of its regular starters. The Lancers started a different goalie each game, and there were a number of contributors to their offense.

"We know we're really deep, we see in practice every day what these girls can do. It was nice to get everyone a lot of playing time and see the reserves control a game from start to finish," Miller said of the Redlands game. "That was big and that will help us in development and when we get into conference."

Annie Eubanks posted a team-high 11 points on the day (seven assists, four goals) and also had seven steals, six sprints won and three drawn ejections. Kira O'Donell posted a team-high eight goals and added two assists and three drawn kickouts.

Allie Coleman (three goals, four assists) and Lizette Perez (five assists, two goals) added seven points each, with Coleman logging four steals and Perez chipping in six steals and five drawn ejections, with those four doing all their damage in just two games.

"Everyone did a good job with their opportunities and playing their role today," Miller said. "It was pretty well spread out, it was a good day."

Four Lancers tallied at least five points in the win over Fresno Pacific. Eubanks put together an all-around game with three goals, four assists and four steals, while O'Donell put up five goals, an assist and drew two exclusions. Coleman and Perez both finished with five points each on four assists and a goal and two goals and three assists, respectively. Perez also added three steals and two drawn ejections.

In game two, CBU won its fourth game by a one-goal margin, with an 8-7 victory over George Washington. Grace Ramirez played a big role with 14 saves and a steal in the cage, while O'Donell added three goals, an assist, drawn ejection and steal. Eubanks had three assists, a goal, three drawn ejections and three steals, while Perez chipped in two assists, three drawn ejections and three steals.

Amy Branch put together a breakout game against Redlands with three goals and three steals. Krista Krantz (two drawn ejections), Morgan Baker and Megan Henry each added three points, while Victoria Reardon logged eight saves, two assists and a steal in the cage. Taralyn De Leeuw chipped in two assists, a drawn ejection and steal, while Catie Kaliszewski scored twice and had two steals.

"Amy had a great game, they started dropping off her side and she's a great shooter," Miller said.

The first two games of the day were tightly contested, with CBU leading most of the first half and Fresno Pacific scoring late to make it a one-goal game, 5-4, going into halftime.

Eubanks played big in the third quarter to help the Lancers pull away. She won the opening sprint to kill a powerplay FPU had drawn with a second left in the first half and then scored two goals to help give CBU a 10-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.

O'Donell scored the first goal of the third quarter two minutes in when she beat the FPU goalie strong side to make it 7-5. Eubanks then scored consecutive goals in transition to make it 9-6, the first coming on a three-on-none counter created by a Megan Rocha save and the other off a perfect pass from Perez.

A field block from Maddie Meza gave the Lancers the ball back with 19 seconds left. They called timeout and Perez scored her third goal on a beautiful skip shot that fooled the goalie to make it 10-6 going into the fourth. O'Donell added two more goals in the fourth quarter to ice the game. It gave her five in the 32 minutes, which marked the fourth time this season she's scored at least five times in a single contest.

Neither team led by more than two the entire way in the George Washington game. The Colonials kept threatening to take a lead in the second half, but the Lancers never relinquished it.

Pua Wong scored an important insurance goal halfway through the third quarter when she rose up outside of two-meters, took a pass from O'Donell in the corner and one-timed it home for a 6-4 edge. O'Donell kept it a two-goal game, 7-5, with 6:22 left to play, but GWU fought all the way back to a 7-7 tie with 3:45 remaining.

O'Donell notched what would eventually be the game-winner with 2:23 to play. The true freshman drew an ordinary foul, went up for a shot and lobbed it home from about six meters out to make it 8-7.

"This team is very tough and finishes well in the fourth quarter," Miller said. "When we need a goal in the end, we have seen a lot of different people step up, and then we have the defense to back it up. We know we can finish these games."

Ramirez came up with two clutch blocks in the final two minutes, including one from dead-blank range on a one-time pass with 1:38 left. O'Donell also forced a steal with under a minute left to allow CBU to run some valuable time off the clock, as well.

"Grace had another huge game and came up big for us in key situations," Miller said. "We had a really good team defense, that's a really good shooting team we held to seven goals."

Redlands and CBU played the first eight minutes to a 2-2 tie in the nightcap. Katie Fugit and Morgan Baker would combine for the next three goals, with Baker scoring two straight to give the Lancers a 5-2 cushion less than halfway through the second quarter. Kaliszewski and Krantz would both score before halftime to make it a 7-3 advantage going into the second half.

Branch scored twice in the third to make it 9-5, while Henry and Kaliszewski also scored again in the third to put the game out of reach, 11-5, going into the fourth quarter.