Lotero Leads CBU to Top-15 Win

Friday, September 14

Davis, Calif. (Schaal Aquatics Center)

3:00 PM

California Baptist University

George Washington

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Lotero Leads CBU to Top-15 Win

9/14/2018 8:12:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

GWU BOX SCORE

PACIFIC BOX SCORE

DAVIS, Calif. – For the second time in six days, California Baptist University faced George Washington on Friday. Tommy Lotero led the 18^th-ranked Lancers to the 9-6 win over the 15^th-ranked Colonials, with 20 saves in the cage.

It is CBU's 18th win over a top-20 team and sixth over a top-15 team since 2013 when it joined the NCAA.There was little time to celebrate the win, though. Less than an hour later, CBU turned right around to face Pacific, the fifth-ranked team in the nation and preseason favorite in the Golden Coast Conference. The Tigers, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament semifinals last year and was the 2013 national runner-up, claimed the 16-2 victory over CBU. The Lancers' record moved to an even 5-5, while GWU dropped to 6-2 and Pacific improved to 5-1.

CBU will play two more games at the Aggie Shootout on Saturday, facing Whittier at 10:30 a.m. and then No. 17 San Jose State at 2:15 p.m.

On top of Lotero's impressive performance in the cage, Logan Mena, Tanner Shore and Zach Lowery all scored two goals in CBU's win over George Washington. It avenged the Lancers' 8-7 loss to the Colonials last Saturday at the Princeton Tournament.

Lowery was all over the place with five steals, two assists and two drawn ejections versus GWU, while Shore added two steals and an assist and Mena drew four ejections.

CBU raced out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter. Kyle Johnson and Mena had the first two goals of the game about two minutes, 15 seconds in. George Washington got on the board with 1:32 left in the quarter, but Lowery extended the Lancers' lead to 3-1 with 19 seconds left in the opening frame.

Mena scored first in the second quarter to make it 4-1, but the Colonials charged all the way back to force a tie in late in the second quarter and halfway through the third. Each time, Shore answered right back to keep CBU from giving up the lead.

Shore's goals gave the Lancers a 6-5 lead going into the fourth quarter, and Lowery came up with a big insurance goal with seven minutes to play. George Washington cut its deficit down to one again, 7-6, with 6:49 to play, but CBU pulled away for good on goals from Kyle Rasmussen and Christian Britton with 3:43 and 1:12 left in regulation.