THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Three Cal Lutheran teams took to the road today. A busy day in Claremont saw the men's water polo team round out the Gary Troyer Invitational with a pair of victories including an upset of Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) No. 24 Concordia-Irvine while the football squad stepped on the gridiron against Pomona-Pitzer and came away victorious with a score of 43-41. Women's soccer traveled to Redlands where the Regals suffered their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) loss of the season, a tough 1-0 final against the Bulldogs.
Kingsmen Water Polo (CLU 12, La Salle 5; CLU 11, CUI 10)
Cal Lutheran (8-7) moved over .500 for the first time of the fall after concluding the Gary Troyer Tournament with a 4-0 record by adding a 12-5 victory over La Salle in the morning and a 11-10 upset victory over Division II and No. 24-ranked Concordia-Irvine to round out the weekend. CLU spread out the offense in the morning as 11 different players scored while Kevin Oetken found the back of the net twice. Chris Gardhouse handed out two assists and shared the team lead in drawn ejections with Oetken and Andre Laserna as each earned a pair. Nick Loomis did the goalkeeping, finishing with 12 saves and Gardhouse recorded two field blocks with Justin English notching one as well.
Against CUI, the Kingsmen gritted down and looked to George Lundgren for the game-winner on an assist from Matt Fong with 2:24 to play in the final frame during a close contest. Gardhouse, Lundgren and Hans Cole all scored twice apiece with five other players pitching in a goal as well. Lundgren also paced the group with two assists and Wyatt Lowe drew four ejections to lead the way for CLU. Gardhouse came up with a team-high four steals, to go along with three drawn ejections and a field block. Parker Jory nabbed three steals and Fong finished with a field block. Loomis and Jake Venckus split time in front of the cage with Venckus getting the start and recording two saves before Loomis took over after halftime, tallying 10 saves.
Kingsmen Football (CLU 43, PP 41)
Cal Lutheran (3-1, 1-1 SCIAC) quarterback Adam Friederichsen accounted for five touchdowns, throwing three to Wendell O'Brien, as the Kingsmen won a shootout with Pomona-Pitzer 43-41 at Merrit Field in Claremont, Calif., Saturday night.
Pomona-Pitzer started the game with the ball and took it the distance to open with a touchdown. Cal Lutheran answered with a score on its first possession as placekicker Dominick Grimm connected on a 21-yard field goal to make it 7-3. The game then went back and forth as there were four lead changes before halftime. After the Kingsmen defense made a stop, Friederichsen threw his first touchdown pass of the day, a 10-yard strike to O'Brien. The Kingsmen had a 10-7 lead with 2:10 left in the first.
The Sagehens bounced back with a score a couple possessions later to retake the lead at 14-10. On CLU's ensuing possession, the Kingsmen marched down the field and Friederichsen found O'Brien for the duo's second touchdown of the day, this one for 18 yards and a 17-14 lead. With 7:45 left in the half, Pomona-Pitzer took back the lead, but the extra point attempt was blocked by Ty Lozano. Pomona-Pitzer had one last try for points in the half, but Derek Reed picked off the Sagehens' quarterback in the endzone and the score was 20-17 at the break.
The only scoring in the third quarter came from the Kingsmen. On the opening drive, Friederichsen threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Diego Hernandez as CLU took a 24-20 lead. Friederichsen used his legs for the next score and made it 31-20 on a one-yard rushing touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, Pomona-Pitzer scored and converted on a two-point conversion with 9:43 left to cut the lead to three, 31-28. Just over a minute later, Friederichsen connected with O'Brien for a 63-yard touchdown and a 37-28 lead. The Sagehens answered the call and cut the lead to 37-35 with just over five minutes remaining. After a 70-yard reception by O'Brien, Chris Beeson ran the ball in from four yards out and CLU increased its lead to 43-35 with four minutes remaining. With 43 seconds remaining, the Sagehens scored a touchdown to make it 43-41. The Hens went for two and it was up to the Kingsmen defense. They responded by forcing an incomplete pass as Cal Lutheran won 43-41.
Friederichsen threw four touchdown passes for the third straight game. He has thrown 14 this year against only two interceptions. He completed 19-for-26 passes for 326 yards. His top target was O'Brien who hauled in nine passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns. His 214 yards were two yards shy of the school record. He was also one touchdown reception shy of tying the school mark. Hernandez had the second-most catches with five for 28 yards and a touchdown. Five more Kingsmen had one catch. Richard Caceras, Kayden Clements and Beeson each took turns running the ball. Caceras rushed for 55 yards on three carries, Clements had 11 attempts for 45 yards and Beeson had one touchdown and 32 yards on seven carries.
Defensively, Christian Rivers led the Violet and Gold with 15 total tackles, five of which were solo. Lozano and Nick Gordon were right behind him as each tallied six solo tackles and 14 total tackles. Acquarey Eddington was the fourth Kingsmen with 10-plus tackles as he recorded 12.
Regals Soccer (UR 1, CLU 0)
The Cal Lutheran women's soccer team (9-2-1, 6-1-1 SCIAC) saw its five-game win-streak snapped by the Redlands Bulldogs Saturday morning at Farquhar Field in Redlands, Calif., by a final score of 1-0. This was the first loss for the Regals in SCIAC play.
The only goal of the match came in the 26th minute of the first half. Redlands' Louisa Alstot crossed the ball to Mollie Craighead who crossed the ball, again, this time into the box. Emily Valla received the ball, and after a volley, kicked the ball into the back of the net. Cal Lutheran didn't have any trouble getting shots off, the problem was converting those shots into goals. CLU tallied eight shots in the first half and five in the second, with eight of those 13 shots being on goal. The Regals' Kali Youngdahl had two shots on goal, while Alexandra Albaeck, Sam Cornejo, Olivia Leyva, Trinity Martinez, Jordan Miller and Bri Pinal each had one. Redlands' goalkeeper Hannah Menk was a force in front of the net and was there to block all of the shots as she tallied eight saves to earn the win.
Saturday, Oct. 14 will serve as Homecoming for Cal Lutheran with both the football and women's soccer, as well as women's volleyball, teams playing at home. The Kingsmen welcome Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against the Stags inside Rolland Stadium before the Regals suit up for a 7:00 p.m. start against the Athenas of CMS. Women's volleyball hosts Pomona-Pitzer at 6:00 p.m. inside the Gilbert Arena. Men's water polo will be on the road at CMS in conference action at 11:00 a.m. and cross country and men's soccer both compete away on Oct. 14 as well.
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Release by Tracy L. Olson, Sports Information Director / Ryan Jorgenson, Assistant Sports Information Director
