THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - After a three week road hiatus, the Cal Lutheran men's water polo team returned to the Samuelson Aquatics Center where the Kingsmen hosted their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) game of the fall. Against the league-leading Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags, the Violet and Gold came up short, falling 8-7 this afternoon.
After a neck-to-neck scoreless first quarter, it came down to a five-meter shot where CMS scored the first goal of the match early in the second stanza. The Kingsmen came back strong, following aggressively with the second goal of the quarter being put in by junior Camron Hauer. From there the tempo was set for both teams and at halftime CMS led 4-2.
By the final seconds of a quick third quarter CLU was trailing the Stags 8-4. As the period came to a close sophomore transfer Chris Gardhouse sent a surprising skip shot into the back of the net from half-court to close the CLU gap to 8-5. While the Stags controlled the second and third quarters, Cal Lutheran did put up a strong fourth quarter to end the day with just a one point difference after scoring twice and shutting down the visiting squad over the final eight minutes.
Leading the Kingsmen offense was junior, Zack Card, with two that were sent right past the goalie and a competitive CMS defense. Gardhouse finished the day with three shot attempts, one goal, four steals and three drawn ejections. Four different Kingsmen handed out an assist today.
Holding support at the other end of the pool, sophomore Nick Loomis, had an impressive nine saves in the goal with two steals. Another sophomore, George French battled in the field with two field blocks and AJ Franklin added a third field block with a steal as well.
Cal Lutheran (6-10, 0-2 SCIAC) welcomes La Verne to the SAC on Saturday, Oct. 24 with an 11:00 a.m. scheduled first sprint. Earlier this season the teams met in non-conference action with the Kingsmen earning a double overtime victory.
Box Score: CMS 8, CLU 7
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