RIVERSIDE - Fresh off of the historic West Coast Conference win over Santa Clara last night, the California Baptist University men's water polo team kept the momentum strong with a pair of wins to open The Joust on Friday. The Lancers handled Fresno Pacific, 24-7, and UC Merced, 25-5, to improve to 11-12 this season.
The Lancers' 20-goal victory over the Bobcats is the largest victory of the season.
GAME ONE: #15 CBU 24 - FPU 7
CBU opened Joust play with a massive 17-goal victory over the Sundbirds on Friday morning. The Lancers left no doubt from the opening whistle, starting with a 7-2 first period and taking an 11-4 lead into halftime. CBU held FPU to just one goal in the third and two in the fourth, allowing the Lancers to cruise to their final score of 24-7.
Marcus Lodewyk and Toring Stanley each recorded a hat trick against the Sunbirds, with Cameron Cullen, Logan Puhl, Bodhi Bowden, Tanner Overbeck, and Luca Imbriolo all contributing multiple goals as well. William Whitstone got the start and win in the cage, but split time with Trevor Alamilo, combining for nine saves.
GAME TWO: #15 CBU 25 - UCM 5
The second victory of the day over the still-new UC Merced was an impressive performance on both ends of the pool. This contest was the first this season where CBU held an opponent scoreless in multiple periods, blanking the Bobcats in the first and third periods.
Offensively, Alex Righetti posted a career-high five goals throughout the game, adding to the Lancer total in each period of play. Aidan Olson could make a strong argument for stat line of the day, depending on how you look at it, recording a three-goal-three-assist game for the first time in his career. Wyatt Bugbee added a quartet of scores, while Toby Bumgardner collected his third hat trick of the season.
Regular starter
Trevor Benge was back in the net for the second game of the day after getting some well-deserved rest after the triple-overtime thriller from the night before. Benge was called upon to make only three saves in the two periods he worked but helped his cause with a career-high five steals.
The Lancers will finish The Joust with two more games on Saturday, with a match against Westcliff at 11:30 a.m. and the tournament's final game against Toronto at 5:00 p.m.
