LOS ANGELES — Cal Lutheran women's water polo held its own against Division I Fresno State and were only down 5-4 at halftime in the opening round of the National Collegiate Water Polo Championships. The Div-I team opened up their lead in the second half as the Bulldogs defeated the Regals 15-7 on Wednesday afternoon.
The Regals won their second straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship and received the conference's automatic bid to the tournament.
Lexi Rond, the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year, led all goal scorers with five. She added four drawn ejections and one field block.
Kemi Dijkstra and Bethany Metcalfe both added a goal for the Purple and Gold. Kaitlin Gardhouse, the SCISC Defensive Player of the Year, and Jessica Diaz both dished out two assists and Metcalfe had one more.
In goal, Izzy De Souza was impressive against a strong Bulldogs' offense. The freshman, and All-SCIAC honoree, made 12 saves, helping the Regals stay in the game.
Senior Mackenzie Thomas saw action in the game, marking her 100th appearance with the Purple and Gold. Also seeing action for the Regals was Jacsen Donohue, Katherine Knight, Elyse Koe, Jay Clerou, Taryn Sato, Aryana Johnson, Maddie Stuart, Rachel Ray and Taylor Campbell.
Rond scored the first goal from the Regals as she answered an earlier goal from the Bulldogs. It was the only goal in the first quarter from the Regals and Fresno State had a 4-1 advantage.
After the Bulldogs went up 5-1, Metcalfe and Dijkstra fired back for the Regals and CLU only trailed 5-3 at the break.
Cal Lutheran scored the first goal of the game, Rond's second, as the Regals cut the lead to just one point. The Purple and Gold got one more goal in the period, but Fresno State added four and took a 9-5 lead. The Bulldogs carried that momentum to the fourth, outscoring the Regals 6-2, and took the game 15-7.
The Regals finished the 2021 season 7-1 with a SCIAC Tournament Championship title.
Box Score: FS 15, CLU 7
CLU Instagram: CLUSports
Sport IG: regals_water_polo
CLU Twitter: CLUSports
Sport Twitter: CLUwWaterPolo
CLU Facebook: CLUSports
Hashtags: #clusports #ownthethrone #goregals #gokingsmen #theSCIAC #ncaad3
Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
