Friday, November 22
Riverside, Calif.
11:00 AM
California Baptist University
vs
Concordia
Photo by: Danielle Lutjens
WWPA Preview: Lancers Ready To Host First Conference Tournament
11/20/2019 11:46:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
RIVERSIDE – For the first time in program history, California Baptist University is hosting a conference tournament. The Western Water Polo Association Championships will play out Friday through Sunday at the Lancer Aquatics Center, with the champion earning the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
Hopes are home-pool advantage gives the Lancers that little edge it needs to reach the final game of the WWPA Championships. They have been on the verge of the finals several times over the last four years.
CBU enters the postseason with a 15-14 record and lived up to preseason expectations by taking fourth in the WWPA with a 4-3 league mark. The Lancers appear to be peaking at the right time, as they ended the regular season by going 5-1 down the stretch, including a three-game winning streak.
"We've played some good water polo lately, we've had three games in a row where there's been a lot of positive things, and it appears we're trending in the right direction," Coach Kevin Rosa said. "Hopefully, the crowd will make this is a special week at home for us."
The Lancers are currently ranked 17th in the NCAA after the most recent poll from the Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Association on Wednesday.
CBU has won nearly 80 percent of its games at home in its 20 years, with a 186-48 overall record for a 79.5 winning percentage. The Lancers have gone 34-11 at home under Rosa over the last five years.
The Lancers have played all seven WWPA opponents tough this season, with one-goal losses to second-seeded UC San Diego (12-11) and No. 3 Loyola Marymount (16-15) and a 13-6 loss on the road at No. 1 UC Davis.
GAME INFORMATION
Team: No. 4 California Baptist vs. #5 Concordia
Date: Friday, Nov. 22
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Lancer Aquatics Center
Watch: Youtube.com/CBULancers
Live Stats: TheFOSH
Tickets: CBULancers.com/tickets
Tournament Central: CBULancers.com/WWPA
Tournament Notes
CBU and Concordia are more familiar with each other than perhaps anyone else in the WWPA. The Lancers won both games this season with the Eagles to increase their lead in the all-time series to 25-6, with a 16-5 edge over CUI in Riverside. CBU has won 13-straight in the matchup, but both games were close calls this year.
The Lancers pulled out a 15-10 non-conference win over Concordia in Riverside on Sept. 26 thanks to a 6-1, second-quarter run and a game-ending, 4-1 run. In Irvine, CBU overcame a 4-0 deficit to start and a 9-6 hole with 8:30 remaining for a 13-11 win on the heels of a 7-2, game-ending run.
"Concordia has gotten a little bit better each time we've played them," Rosa said. "It's tough to beat a team three times in the same year, and they have some dangerous players."
It's no secret that Concordia's No. 1 threat is Marius Jackimcikas, the junior driver from Lithuania leads the Eagles and entire WWPA with 126 points and 99 goals this season. He earned first-team, all-conference honors as a result.
Junior driver Patrick Zsiros and freshman attacker Nick Taylor also earned All-WWPA honorable mention and All-Freshmen Team honors earlier this week. Senior center Messan Moore balanced the Eagles out with a dangerous presence inside, as well.
"They provide some challenges, and overall as a team, we need to take advantage of players five, six, and seven on their depth chart," Rosa said. "I would take my players five, six, seven against their five, six, seven. We need to wear them down with our depth."
Friday's winner will advantage to Saturday's first semifinal at 12:30 p.m. to take on the winner between No. 1 UC Davis and No. 8 Fresno Pacific. The loser will play in either the seventh or fifth-place game, depending on other results, at 8:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., respectively. Saturday's semifinal winners will play in the championship game Sunday at noon, while the losers will play for third place at 10 a.m. Sunday.
BY THE NUMBERS
CBU comes into the tournament averaging 12.90 goals a game, which is one of the best marks in recent memory for the Lancers. The program's all-time record for average goals in a season is 13.89 from back in 2010, while it's NCAA-era record is 12.74 from 2017. This would only be the third year out of 21 CBU averages more than 12 goals a game, as it also did so back in 2002 (12.81) and 2007 (12.05).
Conversely, CBU is giving up 11.21 goals a game. The Lancers 12.23 goals a game allowed in 2014 are the current high. While the offense has always been share for CBU this season, Coach Rosa knows defense will be of utmost importance in the postseason.
"Consistent effort is going to be key," Rosa said. "We need to make sure we have that consistent effort from the get-go… When we play good defense, it leads to good offensive possessions. It doesn't matter if you play great offense if you can't stop the other team. If we hold teams under 10 goals that's normally a win for us."
WWPA HISTORY
Over the past five seasons, UC Davis and UC San Diego have had a firm grip on the WWPA tournament trophy. UC San Diego has won three WWPA titles and UC Davis has two. In that span, the regular-season champion went on to win the tournament title and the WWPA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, in four of five years.
The Aggies and Tritons have been the two final teams in the WWPA four years in a row and five times in the last six seasons.
The Lancers have been very close, though, and advanced to the WWPA Tournament semifinals in three of the last four years. CBU was only a goal or two away from the championship game each time. CBU dropped a two-goal game to UC San Diego in the 2017 semifinals (11-9) after a pair of one-goal losses to UC Davis in 2016 (5-4) and 2015 (14-13).
Those experiences, along with a disappointing 6-5 loss to Air Force in the first round of the WWPAs last season, should be valuable to the Lancers this season, Rosa said.
"Goals are hard to come by in the conference tournament. Everyone understands this is what it's supposed to be like at the end of the year, it's supposed to be intense and you have to work for everything," Rosa said. "Sometimes, that cage gets real small, and we aren't going to score every possession, and that's all right. We have to grind out some goals and not get frustrated because it's supposed to be hard at this time of the year."
Hopes are home-pool advantage gives the Lancers that little edge it needs to reach the final game of the WWPA Championships. They have been on the verge of the finals several times over the last four years.
CBU enters the postseason with a 15-14 record and lived up to preseason expectations by taking fourth in the WWPA with a 4-3 league mark. The Lancers appear to be peaking at the right time, as they ended the regular season by going 5-1 down the stretch, including a three-game winning streak.
"We've played some good water polo lately, we've had three games in a row where there's been a lot of positive things, and it appears we're trending in the right direction," Coach Kevin Rosa said. "Hopefully, the crowd will make this is a special week at home for us."
The Lancers are currently ranked 17th in the NCAA after the most recent poll from the Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Association on Wednesday.
CBU has won nearly 80 percent of its games at home in its 20 years, with a 186-48 overall record for a 79.5 winning percentage. The Lancers have gone 34-11 at home under Rosa over the last five years.
The Lancers have played all seven WWPA opponents tough this season, with one-goal losses to second-seeded UC San Diego (12-11) and No. 3 Loyola Marymount (16-15) and a 13-6 loss on the road at No. 1 UC Davis.
GAME INFORMATION
Team: No. 4 California Baptist vs. #5 Concordia
Date: Friday, Nov. 22
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Lancer Aquatics Center
Watch: Youtube.com/CBULancers
Live Stats: TheFOSH
Tickets: CBULancers.com/tickets
Tournament Central: CBULancers.com/WWPA
Tournament Notes
CBU and Concordia are more familiar with each other than perhaps anyone else in the WWPA. The Lancers won both games this season with the Eagles to increase their lead in the all-time series to 25-6, with a 16-5 edge over CUI in Riverside. CBU has won 13-straight in the matchup, but both games were close calls this year.
The Lancers pulled out a 15-10 non-conference win over Concordia in Riverside on Sept. 26 thanks to a 6-1, second-quarter run and a game-ending, 4-1 run. In Irvine, CBU overcame a 4-0 deficit to start and a 9-6 hole with 8:30 remaining for a 13-11 win on the heels of a 7-2, game-ending run.
"Concordia has gotten a little bit better each time we've played them," Rosa said. "It's tough to beat a team three times in the same year, and they have some dangerous players."
It's no secret that Concordia's No. 1 threat is Marius Jackimcikas, the junior driver from Lithuania leads the Eagles and entire WWPA with 126 points and 99 goals this season. He earned first-team, all-conference honors as a result.
Junior driver Patrick Zsiros and freshman attacker Nick Taylor also earned All-WWPA honorable mention and All-Freshmen Team honors earlier this week. Senior center Messan Moore balanced the Eagles out with a dangerous presence inside, as well.
"They provide some challenges, and overall as a team, we need to take advantage of players five, six, and seven on their depth chart," Rosa said. "I would take my players five, six, seven against their five, six, seven. We need to wear them down with our depth."
Friday's winner will advantage to Saturday's first semifinal at 12:30 p.m. to take on the winner between No. 1 UC Davis and No. 8 Fresno Pacific. The loser will play in either the seventh or fifth-place game, depending on other results, at 8:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., respectively. Saturday's semifinal winners will play in the championship game Sunday at noon, while the losers will play for third place at 10 a.m. Sunday.
BY THE NUMBERS
CBU comes into the tournament averaging 12.90 goals a game, which is one of the best marks in recent memory for the Lancers. The program's all-time record for average goals in a season is 13.89 from back in 2010, while it's NCAA-era record is 12.74 from 2017. This would only be the third year out of 21 CBU averages more than 12 goals a game, as it also did so back in 2002 (12.81) and 2007 (12.05).
Conversely, CBU is giving up 11.21 goals a game. The Lancers 12.23 goals a game allowed in 2014 are the current high. While the offense has always been share for CBU this season, Coach Rosa knows defense will be of utmost importance in the postseason.
"Consistent effort is going to be key," Rosa said. "We need to make sure we have that consistent effort from the get-go… When we play good defense, it leads to good offensive possessions. It doesn't matter if you play great offense if you can't stop the other team. If we hold teams under 10 goals that's normally a win for us."
WWPA HISTORY
Over the past five seasons, UC Davis and UC San Diego have had a firm grip on the WWPA tournament trophy. UC San Diego has won three WWPA titles and UC Davis has two. In that span, the regular-season champion went on to win the tournament title and the WWPA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, in four of five years.
The Aggies and Tritons have been the two final teams in the WWPA four years in a row and five times in the last six seasons.
The Lancers have been very close, though, and advanced to the WWPA Tournament semifinals in three of the last four years. CBU was only a goal or two away from the championship game each time. CBU dropped a two-goal game to UC San Diego in the 2017 semifinals (11-9) after a pair of one-goal losses to UC Davis in 2016 (5-4) and 2015 (14-13).
Those experiences, along with a disappointing 6-5 loss to Air Force in the first round of the WWPAs last season, should be valuable to the Lancers this season, Rosa said.
"Goals are hard to come by in the conference tournament. Everyone understands this is what it's supposed to be like at the end of the year, it's supposed to be intense and you have to work for everything," Rosa said. "Sometimes, that cage gets real small, and we aren't going to score every possession, and that's all right. We have to grind out some goals and not get frustrated because it's supposed to be hard at this time of the year."
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