THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Today at the Samuelson Aquatics Center the Cal Lutheran men's water polo team cruised past Caltech for a 23-9 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory to pull even in the league standings.
A first sprint won by AJ Franklin was the start of a dominating effort from the Kingsmen. In total, 16 different players scored with five players tallying more than one goal and everyone suited up jumped into the pool.
Asante Sefa-Boakye got the offense started with a goal on an assist from Franklin. On the ensuing possession the senior notched his first of two steal on the day and Franklin netted the second goal of the game on a pass from Tyler Graper. Shea Craig scored on an assist from Franklin and Sefa-Boakye and Franklin teamed up to push the advantage to 4-0 before CIT would finally break through. Jack Acampora, Taylor McMaster and Mike Arteaga would add the remaining goals in the first, respectively.
Leading 7-3 after the first frame, the Kingsmen came out hot in the second stanza as well, shutting out the Beavers while adding five goals. Zach Graper netted a goal from 12 meters out and Cameron Knudsen converted a pass from Ben Russell. When Justin English earned a steal midway through the quarter, CLU quickly moved the ball down the pool. Camron Hauer who was all alone with the goalie pump faked and found the back of the net with the ultimate winning goal and a 10-3 advantage. Before the half concluded Zach Zamecki would score back-to-back goals as he went on to lead all players with four.
Rian Atherton added two goals in the third, the first on an assist from Jake Gallagher. Both English and Nathan Ortega added to the total in the period as well. At the buzzer Michael Walk made his third save f the period on a three quarter pool length shot.
Over the final eight minutes CLU would tack on seven more with a skip shot from Zamecki starting it and a put-back goal from Adam Lee on a rebound of his own attempt that hit the crossbar. Russell and Ryan Moguel eachgot in on the scoring as well.
In the fourth, Chris Bradley gave Caltech a little spark with a pair of goals from long range, despite Cal Lutheran having seized control of the game. Bradley scored a game-high five goals.
Lee handed out a team-leading four assists while Gallagher and Zamecki finished with two apiece. The only two drawn ejections of the contest came from English and Zamecki.
Defensively, three different goalies guarded the cage for the Violet and Gold. Zach Loza made the start and in the first half to record four saves before giving way to Walk in the third and Nick Loomis, in his CLU debut, in the fourth as each tallied three saves.
Cal Lutheran (6-11, 2-2 SCIAC) will play at Whittier on Saturday, Nov. 1 in an 11:00 a.m. whistle against the Poets.
Box Score: CLU 23, CIT 9
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