THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On an unusually warm November afternoon, Cal Lutheran hosted Redlands in an important Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) contest inside the Samuelson Aquatics Center. A third quarter meltdown was detrimental for the Kingsmen who fell 10-8 at the paws of the Bulldogs today.
A defensive contest at the start gave way to the offense later in the contest. Additionally, CLU shooters fired off 30 with too many cross bars to count.
The game started with a scoreless first 4:23 in which there were only two shots, both taken by Cal Lutheran. Redlands, however, took the upper hand early with the first crooked number of the game. A few minutes later after a great effort from Taylor McMaster, to seemingly earn a steal, the whistle was blown and the Bulldogs got the ball back, converting their second goal of the day with just over a minute to play in the first frame. In a 6-on-4 situation on the ensuing possession, the Kingsmen smoothly moved the ball until Nathan Ortega passed to an open Ryan Moguel in center for the tip-in to cut the deficit in half with 18 ticks to play in the period.
CLU struck first in the second stanza when Jack Acampora equalized the score. After UR responded in a man-up situation he tied the teams again.
A huge defensive showing from Zack Card, Camron Hauer and Jesse Owen led to a steal and on the next UR possession Owen made a great point-blank save before Mike Potter netted his only goal of the day. Shea Craig broke the next tie and the Violet and Gold took a 5-4 lead at the intermission.
Out of the break UR won the sprint and scored for the fourth tie of the day. As the teams continued to battle, the home team unfortunately squandered numerous opportunities with shots just off target while UR converted a five-meter shot for a 6-5 advantage and pushed their lead back to a pair at 7-5, adding another to open the gap to 8-5 after three quarters.
The final period opened with AJ Franklin winning the sprint, but the team was unable to add to the offense until their next possession when Moguel scored his second goal of the day following another solid effort from CLU working the ball around the cage. Just as quickly as the Kingsmen scored, so did the Bulldogs. But, back down at the UR side of the pool, Hauer found the back of the net. While Redlands was trying to run out the clock, Cal Lutheran was pressing and it worked once as Hauer was able to add to the tally, but over the final minute the host team was unable to increase the score.
Overall, Acampora, Hauer and Moguel each scored twice and Potter supplied a pair of assists. Acampora, Hauer and Asante Sefa-Boakye each drew two ejections in the game.
Defensively, Owen finished with 10 saves and shared the team lead of two steals with Franklin. There were two field blocks from the Kingsmen today with Potter and Zach Graper each recording one.
Cal Lutheran (6-13, 2-4 SCIAC) will be on the road for an 11:00 a.m. first sprint against Occidental on Saturday, Nov. 8 before returning to the SAC to close out the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: UR 10, CLU 8
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