THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The final schedule of our 2017 fall series comes from the Samuelson Aquatics Center (SAC) as the men's water polo team released its schedule, that includes nine home dates, today.
For the first time in program history, the team will play Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponents for an opportunity to appear in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament. An incomplete double round robin set-up pits the Kingsmen against Chapman, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, La Verne, Occidental, Redlands and Whittier twice apiece and Caltech and Pomona-Pitzer each once. A regular season champion will be crowned and that institution earns the right to host the top four teams from the overall standings in the first ever SCIAC PST on Nov. 17 and 19 with the champion moving on to represent the league at the Division I NCAA Championships as the NCAA does not sponsor a Division III Championship at this point in time.
The Kingsmen open their season on the East coast at the prestigious Naval Academy Tournament where the Violet and Gold are set to face off with a trio of Division I programs with a finale against Division II Salem International (W.V.) on Sunday, Sept. 3. Prior to facing the Tigers for the first time in program history, CLU will play Johns Hopkins (Md.) in the early Sunday morning hours. Saturday, the season opens against Iona (N.Y.) with a second contest of the day against the host Midshipmen.
Once back in Thousand Oaks, Cal Lutheran welcomes Division I Air Force Academy (Colo.) at 1:00 p.m. and Cuesta College at 5:00 p.m. inside the Samuelson Aquatics Center for the first home date of the year.
On Wednesday, Sept. 20, CLU dives right into SCIAC action at Occidental with first sprint set for 4:00 p.m.
Play returns to the SAC on Saturday, Sept. 23 for another two-game day with the first contest against La Verne scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and a non-conference match-up with Ventura College to follow at 2:00 p.m. Home competition continues on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 4:00 p.m. against Redlands.
A single SCIAC road game against Chapman (Sept. 30) leads up to a busy Oct. 6-8 weekend. The Kingsmen travel to the Annual Gary Troyer Tournament at Pomona-Pitzer on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 6-7, before hosting the CLU Mini Tournament with Connecticut College and Los Angeles Valley College on Sunday to round out non-conference play. Friday, the Kingsmen face off with Penn State-Behrend (10:30 a.m.) and rematch Iona (4:45 p.m.) and on Saturday, Cal Lutheran will play Division I La Salle (Penn.) and Division II Concordia-Irvine at 10:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., respectively. CC and LAVC dive in for a neutral site game to start the day of play on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and CLU is slated to face La Valley College at 11:30 a.m. and Connecticut College at 2:00 p.m. to wrap up the weekend.
Things do not get easier once SCIAC competition resumes as CLU first faces defending conference champion Whittier at home on Oct. 11. Other events at the SAC for the remainder of the season include Pomona-Pitzer (Oct. 19), Occidental (Oct. 21), Chapman (Nov. 1) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for senior day on Saturday, Nov. 11. Five road games at CMS (Oct. 14), Caltech (Oct. 17), La Verne (Oct. 25), Redlands (Oct. 28) and Whittier (Nov. 8) are mixed in.
A week after the final regular season concludes the first ever SCIAC Postseason Tournament will take place.
Schedule: 2017 Men's Water Polo
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