STOCKTON - The California Baptist University men's water polo team won another West Coast Conference thriller on Saturday afternoon, spoiling the Pacific Tigers homecoming attempt with a buzzer-beating goal to win 17-16 in Stockton. Logan Puhl capped a five-point game with the score, improving CBU to 14-12 overall.
The Lancers unknowingly won the game in the first quarter, outscoring the Tigers 5-4 in the opening frame before playing them even for the next 24 minutes. Thomas de Wit got CBU rolling with the first two scores of the game, with Toby Bumgardner, Puhl, and Jaedan Calder also scoring in the quarter.
The two defenses sured up in the second quarter, holding each other to just two scores to reach a 7-6 count at halftime.
Bodhi Bowden scored a pair in the third period, while de Wit completed his hat trick, and
Caleb Teraoka converted a penalty shot, going up by a game-high three scores at one point.
The final period saw the two teams stay close the entire way, working through five ties in the final eight minutes. Pacific took a 16-15 lead with a powerplay goal with just 2:44 to go, but the Lancers were ready. Teraoka scored shortly after with 2:16 to play, cementing his hat trick and leveling the game at 16-all.
The final possession was tense. After a huge defensive stop, Head Coach Kevin Rosa called a 30-second timeout to set up his offense. Eventually, CBU drew an exclusion to play with a man advantage for the rest of regulation. A few passes later, with just a few ticks left on the clock, the ball was in the hands of Teraoka, who saw Puhl set up in front of the far post. He sent in the pass, and with one sublime motion, Puhl caught the pass and fired it past the Tigers keeper as time expired. It was his second goal of the contest and Teraoka's fifth assist of the day.
In the cage,
Trevor Benge stopped 13 shots and added a steal for good measure. The Tigers were aggressive, getting ahead of the action a handful of times on Saturday, but Benge was up for the challenge.
After just one game this week, the Lancers will return to the tournament scene next week, heading up to Santa Clara for the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament hosted by Santa Clara University. CBU will face Long Island University for the second time this season on Friday at 12:40 p.m. before facing #14 Fordham and #17 Harvard on Saturday at 9:20 a.m. and 1:20 p.m., respectively.
