LOS ANGELES Calif. - On the road in a tough match-up, the Cal Lutheran women's water polo squad dropped their first league game of the season, falling 12-7 to Occidental this afternoon.
Box Score: OXY 12, CLU 7 - F
On senior day at Occidental, the Tigers controlled the momentum of the pace in the pool from the get-go. CLU miscues were too many and goals were too few today.
Oxy jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first. CLU equalized things at 2-2 on a goal from Morgan McCardell and a full court goal from goalie Kylie Tomasetti. She then blocked a 5m shot to keep the teams knotted with 2:15 to play in the opening period. On the ensuing CLU possession, Christina Messer put the Regals on top 3-2, which was the Regals' only lead of the day.
In the second stanza, Oxy again scored two unanswered goals to go up 4-3. In a 6-on-5 situation, following a CLU timeout, the Regals executed their plan as Mieke Howell found the back of the net with 3:40 to play, again tying the teams at 4-4. Occidental's Tessa Bailey Findley would score the final goal of the second, leaving CLU at a one-goal disadvantage half way through.
After the intermission the Tigers tacked on two more goals to take a 7-4 lead. Cal Lutheran looked to Kelsey Bergemann to get the offense going in the third, pulling the Reglas within a pair at 7-5. Miscues cost CLU a few possessions and they went down 8-5 after three.
Occidental played tough defense throughout, but especially stepped up in the fourth. Nanea Fujiyama was a nuisance at both ends of the pool, with a pair of field blocks to go along with a goal. Oxy goalie Raechel Adeleye was kept busy, blocking a number of shots, rejecting a CLU point blank shot early in the fourth quarter to squash a potential momentum shift in favor of the Regals.
With 4:07 to play Messer drew an ejection of Adeleye, setting up a score by Howell to pull within four at 10-6. In the final two minutes Tiffany Ly got a pair of steals and scored the final goal of the contest for the Regals, on an assist from Lexy Varshawsky, with 29 seconds remaining.
As a team CLU turned the ball over 21 times, too much to overcome.
Messer drew two of the seven ejections in the game. Ly had one as did McCardell, Bergemann, Jordan Card and Adrienne Ingalla. Howell had a pair of goals while McCardell, Messer, Bergemann, and Ly rounded out the offense. Varshawsky, Messer, Bergemann and Claire Whitten each handed out an assist.
Defensively, CLU came up with 12 steals. Bergemann had three while McCardell and Whitten each had two. Tomasetti finished with eight blocks.
Cal Lutheran (15-8, 3-1) will be back on the road Saturday, April 14 to play at Pomona-Pitzer beginning at 11:00 a.m.
