THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Senior day at the Samuelson Aquatics Center for two Cal Lutheran women's water polo players was spoiled by the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens as the Regals came up just short of knocking off the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) leader, falling 5-4 in a tight battle this morning.
Prior to the game Jordan Card and Kaylee Kastrup were each recognized and thanked for her contributions to the program over the course of the last four years. Today, each added to career tallies as Card provided a pair of goals, three drawn ejections, two steals and a field block and Kastrup finished with a team-leading five steals.
In a repeat of the lowest scoring game of the season, CLU came up strong time and time again, but a three goal fourth frame for PP was too much for the Regals who were held scoreless over the final eight minutes of action.
Leading the effort at the defensive end of the pool was junior goalkeeper Gina Merry whose 13 saves included numerous highlight reel worthy stops. Joining Kastrup with multi-steal games were five additional Regals including Lauren Shackelford and Logan Young grabbed three apiece.
The day started with a five minute defensive stand that saw neither team find a groove offensively. A CLU exclusion gave PP a man-up situation and the Hens took advantage with the first goal of the game. After getting the Pomona-Pitzer goalie kicked out, Cal Lutheran used the momentum to even the score when Card notched her first goal, on an assist from Amanda Jones, three ticks before the first period buzzer.
Merry had three huge saves early in the second stanza, two coming in man-down situations. At 3:43 Maggie Kurzeka earned a five-meter shot and Card converted it to give the Regals their first lead of the day. A minute later PP equalized on a fast break with just under a minute to play. Each team took a timeout in the final 54 seconds of the half and though neither squad found the back of the next again before the buzzer Card earned a steal and gave CLU a chance late and seized the momentum going into the locker rooms.
After the break, CLU came out fired up and scored another pair. Kurzekatallied a goal on a pass from Shackelfordand Maddie Campbell teamed up with Jonesto double the Cal Lutheran lead to 4-2. In between the goals, Merry made a great stop on a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced between her and the plane of the goal on the ricochet.
Pomona-Pitzer broke the scoreless string with a goal at 4:41 in the fourth to close the gap to one at 4-3. Less than two minutes later PP knotted things up. After Merry recorded another save at 1:54, the Hens got the ball back and Card came up with an important field block, which was recovered by CLU, with 1:41 to play in regulation. At 1:06 the visiting team regained the advantage at 5-4 and the score would stand until the final buzzer sounded.
Cal Lutheran (7-18, 3-5 SCIAC) will compete at the SCIAC Championships on Saturday to Monday, April 25-27 at Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont, Calif. Seedings for the tournament will available at the conclusion of all games today.
Box Scores: PP 5, CLU 4
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow WWP: https://twitter.com/regalspolo
CLU Facebook: https://wwwacebook.com/clusports
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
