THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The third Saturday of September saw six of the seven fall Cal Lutheran teams competing with two at home and four on the road.
Kingsmen Cross Country (Open 8K)
Competing in one of the largest invitational meets in the state this fall, the Kingsmen lined up as part of the 1200-competitor (men's and women's combined) meet at the University of California, Riverside Agricultural Operations Course. Seven members of the CLU squad achieved 8K lifetime personal records today and senior Timmy Kahovec ran the fastest time of any Kingsmen student-athlete to compete on the course. His clocking of 25:28.9 was the 13th fastest time of the day and a minute and a half faster than his time from last year's race. Christian Rider (27:01.57), Zachary Sergey (28:33.4), Henry Friederichs (28:34.0), Nikita Khromets (28:36.6), Aaron Rider (32:57.9) and Connor Richter (36:37.9) all posted PRs today as well.
Regals Cross Country (Open 5K)
Also competing at the UCR Ags/Opp Course today was the women's cross country team. Running a 5K course was memorable for the group as six student-athletes reached new personal records including Rachel Ereso (19:29.8), Katie Young (21:01.2), Olivia Becker (21:05.8), Kylie Rodriguez (21:05.9), Mariah Mercado (21:32.0) and Stephanie Allen (21:43.9). Ereso recorded the second fastest time on that course in CLU history, breaking the 20-minute mark after running a 21:07.58 a year ago.
Football (CLU 28, WU 13)
Cal Lutheran started strong, scoring on its first drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead on an Adam Friederichsen pass to Aaron Lacombe for a 12-yard touchdown reception that was capped off by a Dominick Grimm point after kick to represent the only scoring of the first quarter. In the second, CLU doubled the advantage with another connection between Friederichsen and Lacombe, this time for five yards, with another PAT from Grimm. After Willamette got on the board, CLU tacked on a third TD in the opening half when Friederichsen found Wendell O'Brien for a 26-yard touchdown setting up Grimm for his third point of the game. CLU led 21-7 at halftime. After the break, the offense sat silent during the third, but at the 10:53 mark of the final frame Friederichsen notched another passing score to O'Brien, for nine yards, to push the lead to 28-7 after a fourth Grimm kick. Over the final 10 minutes of action, Cal Lutheran did not find the end zone again, but Willamette scored after time expired, making the final 28-13.
Cal Lutheran converted 2-for-2 fourth down conversions and went 9-for-16 on third down chances while Willamette was 0-for-2 and 5-for-15 in the same categories, respectively. The Kingsmen accumulated 367 total yards of offense and limited the Bearcats to 233.
Friederichsen went 23-for-30 for 286 yards with four touchdowns and his longest completion of the day was 54 yards to Lacombe who totaled 99 yards on six catches. Chris Beeson did a little bit of everything, rushing for 66 yards on 20 touches with his longest at 19 yards and nabbing two catches for 47 yards while returning two kickoffs for 49 additional yards.
Defensively, Nick Gordon tallied nine tackles with five solo and four assists while Klayton Wood made seven stops with four solo. Jerome Hull had a tackle for a loss of 14 yards and broke up another play.
Regals Soccer (CLU 3, CU 1)
The Regals traveled to Chapman for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown with the Panthers tonight and will return to campus with a win after defeating the host 3-1.
Back-to-back goals in the 26th and 29th minutes, when Maddy Griess scored off an assist from Bri Pinal and Kali Youngdahl added an unassisted goal, gave the Violet and Gold all the offense the group would need. Although Chapman cut its deficit to one in the 42nd minute, after the break Zandra Stewart pushed the gap back to a pair with her first collegiate goal at the 59:41 mark.
Cal Lutheran (4-1, 2-0 SCIAC) outshot CU 13-8 and the Regals fired off eight on target en route to handing the Panthers their first loss of the season. Alysa Frazier earned the start at goalie and finished the night with three saves in 90 minutes of action.
Men's and women's cross country will be off the competition trail until Sept. 29 when the programs race at the SCIAC Multi-Duals in La Mirada Park. Football (2-0) has a bye week on Sept. 23 before opening league play at La Verne on Sept. 30. Women's soccer remains on the road for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday, Sept. 20.
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Release by Tracy L. Olson, Sports Information Director
