CLAREMONT – Twenty saves from
Gabe Thorne and hat tricks from
PJ McDonough and
Logan Mena led California Baptist University to its second top-20 win of the season.
The No. 16 Lancers defeated 20
th-ranked Whittier, 12-11, on Friday at the Gary Troyer Tournament. It was a big bounce back for CBU after consecutive one-goal losses, including an 11-10 overtime loss to Fordham earlier Friday.
"We seem to like one-goal games this year, that's for sure," Coach
Kevin Rosa said. "This is what you want, though, you want character-building games that magnify things you do well and things you do wrong. We recovered well and finished with a big fourth quarter tonight."
Thorne had 41 saves over both games on Friday, with 21 on the Rams. They were the first two 20-save games of Thorne's career, with his 21 saves tying for the third most in CBU's single-game record books. Galgani and Mena led a wild comeback attempt for CBU against Fordham, with four and three goals, respectively. The Lancers move to 5-9 on the year, while Fordham improved to 13-3 and Whittier dropped to 6-9.
CBU wraps up the weekend at the Gary Troyer Tournament with games against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and 18
th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. Both games will have live stats on
The FOSH, while
CMS and
Pomona-Pitzer will have their own video streams, as well.
A 3-0 run in the fourth quarter led CBU past the Poets on Friday night. Whittier held a 10-9 advantage going into the fourth after a goal with 17 seconds left in the third. Mena came up clutch for the Lancers, though, with two goals in two minutes to start the fourth.
Mena's first goal came on a well-run play that fed him at center. His second came with off a clever steal and quick shot when Whittier was getting up on a counterattack to give CBU an 11-10 lead with 5:50 left in regulation.
"Logan battled this evening, he went all out and made some good things happen for us," Rosa said.
It was
Nick Johnson's one-and-only goal that iced the game, though. The sophomore's goal came off a shot off the post from Mena, who quickly gobbled up his own rebound. It gave CBU numbers on the attack after several Poets were already swimming down the other end.
Johnson showed poise and composure to net the unmarked goal that gave the Lancers just enough insurance in the victory. Whittier capped the scoring with 28 seconds left and CBU ran out the clock from there.
Riley Bumgardner was another big contributor with two assists and a goal in the game.
Thorne was key to the win, as three of his saves came in the fourth quarter. He had several point-blank blocks on the day, as well, to keep momentum with CBU throughout the game.
"Gabe was outstanding, since our San Jose State game he could very well be our best player," Rosa said. "He's put a string of games together that are really impressive. That's the goalie we knew we had when we started the season, and we're really proud of him."
Thorne came up with 21 saves in Friday's opener to give CBU every chance at victory. The Lancers trailed Fordham 8-6 with 3:33 left in regulation, but Galgani scored two goals in 34 seconds to tie the game at 8-8 with one second remaining to force overtime.
Mena and Galgani both scored in overtime, but the Rams ended the game on a 2-0 run to secure the 11-10 win. Galgani scored a game-high four goals and added an assist, while Mena had a hat trick, as well.
"Galgani has really come on over the last three weeks," Rosa said. "He's probably been our best offensive player since then."
