Depth, Offense Carry Lancers on Day One

Saturday, September 1

La Jolla, Calif. (Triton Pool)

9:20 AM

California Baptist University

Long Beach State

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Depth, Offense Carry Lancers on Day One

9/1/2018 9:02:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

LONG BEACH STATE BOX SCORE

CHAPMAN BOX SCORE

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Depth on offense and in the cage highlighted California Baptist University's first day of the 2018 season, and led to the Lancers splitting a pair of games in the Triton Invitational on Saturday.

Sixteenth-ranked CBU opened things up with a 16-9 loss to No. 6 Long Beach State, and then ended the day with a 13-8 win over Chapman, the third-ranked team in NCAA Division III. The Lancers are 1-1 on the year, Long Beach State is 2-0 and Chapman starts out 0-2.

CBU will play two more games tomorrow, first facing Loyola Marymount at 9:45 a.m. Depending on results, the Lancers will face either Air Force or UC San Diego after that at 1:45 p.m. or 2 p.m.

Offense drew the highest praise from Coach Kevin Rosa on day one of the season, as the Lancers scored a lot of different types of goals and with a lot of different goal scorers Saturday.

"We scored in a variety of ways, it wasn't just six-on-five or from center," Rosa said. "We had some cross-cage pass shots on the perimeter, some counter goals, some exclusions and a five-meter goal – there was a lot of different areas we excelled in. There was nothing wrong with offense, we were pretty happy with that. There was balanced scoring, too, a lot of guys contributed."

A total of eight different Lancers scored over both games on Saturday, with seven having multi-goal days. Dominick Nevarez led the attack with a team-high five goals and eight points. Logan Mena had a four-goal day, with 10 drawn ejections, while Kyle Johnson had five points (three goals, two assists).

Another bright spot was the play of the underclassmen, including true freshmen Nick Johnson, Hunter Barnett (two goals, one assist) and Riley Bumgardner (three goals, two assists). Sophomore Zach Lowery also had an impressive day with seven points (three goals, four assists) and three steals after seeing limited action as a true freshman.

"They come from good high school and club programs, they have played at a high level; it didn't feel like they were fish out of water," Rosa said. "They stepped up when they had an opportunity to make a play. We were happy with what they were able to do."

In goal, the Lancers rotated in three different goalies: Matt Miller, Tommy Lotero and Gabe Thorne, and they all had good showings. It leaves Rosa and CBU with a rotation in the cage moving forward.

Mena manufactured a ton of offense in the win over the Panthers, as he scored a hat trick and drew six ejections. There was plenty of balance from the Lancer offense, as Ryan Sargis, Nevarez, Bumgardner and Lowery (two assists) all scored two goals each.

Lotero and Thorne split time in the cage in the win, and both had eight saves, while Lotero added two steals and Thorne had two assists and a steal.

CBU improved in each quarter against the Panthers. Nevarez and Kyle Johnson scored the first two goals of the game to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Chapman tied the game at 2-2 in the second quarter, but CBU ended the first half on a 3-1 run, thanks to goals from Nevarez, Bumgardner and Mena to make it 5-3 in its favor at halftime.

Quarter three was where CBU put the game away, but it started with Chapman pulling within a goal, 5-4, about a minute in. The Lancers scored the next three goals, though, for some insurance. It started with Bumgardner punching in a deflection off the post and back-to-back breakaway goals from Lowery made it 8-4 with 3:14 left to in the third.

Goals from Sargis, Barnett, Mena and PJ McDonough widened the Lancers' advantage to 11-6 at the end of the third. Scores from Mena and Sargis in the fourth quarter capped the scoring for CBU.

Nevarez put together a big game in the season opener with Long Beach State on Saturday, as he notched five points (three goals, two assists) and a steal. Lowery and Johnson also put up a goal and two assists.

Miller put together an impressive second half in the cage, with two steals and 12 saves, including one on a penalty shot, in 16 minutes of action. He held LBSU to six goals in the second half for a .667 save percentage.

CBU hung with Long Beach State in the first quarter, despite the 49ers scoring the first two goals of the game. Lowery scored the first Lancer goal of the season about two minutes in, and then Bumgardner found the back of the cage to make it a one-goal game again, 3-2, 2:15 before the first quarter came to an end.

Long Beach State scored two more times before the quarter ended to make it 5-2 going into the second. Johnson scored a minute into the frame to make it 5-3, but LBSU scored the next four goals to pull away, up 9-3 with about three minutes left before halftime.

There was no quit from the Lancers, as they scored six more times before the game was over. Nevarez came alive in the second half and it all started with a five-meter penalty shot goal with 56 seconds left in the third period. The junior scored consecutive goals with 2:25 and 1:48 left to play to notch the hat trick.