THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— The Cal Lutheran men's water polo had a tough task on opening day as the Kingsmen welcomed College Water Polo Association No. 11 and Division I opponent, UC San Diego Tritons, to the Samuelson Aquatics Center Wednesday afternoon. The Tritons spoiled the season opener for the Kingsmen and won 16-6.
George Lundgren led the Violet and Gold and scored four goals. He added two field blocks, one assist and one drawn ejection.
Justin English and Parker Jory both scored one goal for the Kingsmen. English also had a team-high five drawn ejections. Wyatt Lowe and Jack Kirby tallied three and two drawn ejections, respectively.
Jonathan Salandi got the start in the goal and played two quarters. He recorded five saves. Andre Rivas was in goal for the other two quarters and blocked six shots.
Seeing their first action with the Violet and Gold was Tanner Kaplan, Matt Binckley, Dillon Goldsmith, Ben Brown and Kyle Crist.
UCSD got on the board early and took a quick 4-0 lead. The Kingsmen fought back and the first goal of the 2018 season was scored by English with 1:26 left in the first quarter. Cal Lutheran got its second goal as Lundgren converted with 4 seconds left. The Tritons held the lead after the first quarter with a score of 5-2.
Lundgren added his second goal of the game at the start of the second quarter. The Tritons scored two goals of their own and led 7-3. CLU wouldn't back down. After a Kingsmen timeout, a perfectly executed play brought Cal Lutheran within three points as Lundgren recorded a hat-trick. That was all the scoring the Kingsmen could muster in the first half as UCSD took a 10-4 lead at the half.
The hot hand stayed with Lundgren as he scored his fourth goal of the game quickly into the third. The Tritons stayed hot as well and add two of their own and led 12-5 with 5:30 left in the third quarter. The defense picked up for the rest of the quarter and both offenses got shut down. At the end of the third, UCSD was up 12-5.
Cal Lutheran's Jory scored his first goal of the season in the fourth quarter with 5:30 left. The Tritons added two more and were up 14-6 with 3:30 left. UCSD added a few more goals and won the game 16-6.
The Kinsgmen continue the season at the Conn. College Tournament Friday and Saturday.
Box Score: UCSD 16, CLU 6
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director