CBU Defeats Air Force With Strong Defensive Stand In Final Seconds

Sunday, November 5

Riverside, Calif.

1 PM

California Baptist University

16-15 (2-1WCC)

(RV) Air Force

16-13 (1-3WCC)

Air Force

California Baptist

Photo by: Ella DuPree

CBU Defeats Air Force With Strong Defensive Stand In Final Seconds

11/5/2023 3:24:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Daniel Cook, Director of Athletics Communications & Digital Media

RIVERSIDE - California Baptist men's water polo hosted its third West Coast Conference match of the season, welcoming the Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy to Riverside on Sunday. The Lancers would shut down a late rally from the Falcons to earn the 15-14 home victory.

The win moves CBU to 17-15 overall and 3-1 in the WCC, putting them in a tie for second with LMU. Air Force drops to 16-14 on the year and 1-4 in league action.

The Lancers were off to a solid start, outscoring AFA 4-2 in the first from four different goal scorers in Matt Olsen, Caleb Teraoka, Marcus Lodewyk, and Collin White. CBU would regress a bit in the second period, getting outscored 6-2 to go into halftime trailing 8-6.

The third period started with Lancer domination as CBU went on a 4-0 run to regain their lead, 10-8, and force a Falcons timeout. That pause worked well for Air Force as the two teams traded goals until the end of the frame.

The fourth quarter was no cakewalk as the sides again traded goals evenly until CBU broke the routine and saw Logan Puhl and Cullen net back-to-back goals to go up 15-12 with 3:46 to go. The Falcons pushed hard following that run, forcing the Lancer defense to come up big, and they answered the call. Although AFA would score two unanswered, CBU's defense locked down with under 15 seconds to play, and the Falcons driving again to try to force overtime. Even with an extra offensive player, Air Force was forced into a bad pass, which was easily swallowed up by the Lancer defense, who ran out the clock to secure the win.

Puhl led all Lancers with five points (three goals, two assists) and a steal, while Cullen, Teraoka, Marcus Lodewyk, Thomas de Wit, and Toring Stanley all chipped in a pair of scores, with the first three adding a pair of assists as well. Senior Trevor Benge came up big in the cage again, stopping 12 shots in the contest.

The Lancers will play for sole possession of second place on Thursday as they head to Los Angeles to take on the Loyola Marymount University Lions. That match is set for 6:00 p.m. at the Burns Center on the campus of LMU.