THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— On a hot afternoon at the Samuelson Aquatics Center, the No. 9 Cal Lutheran men's water polo team faced a tough opponent in No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as the Stags used a big third quarter to take down the Kingsmen 13-8 Wednesday afternoon.
Cal Lutheran dropped to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in SCIAC play. The Kingsmen were led by Wyatt Lowe and George Lundgren with two goals each. Lowe added one drawn ejection and Lundgren had one assist.
Ben Brown, Dillon Goldsmith, Seth Hightower and Parker Jory all added one goal for the Violet and Gold. Brown and Hightower also chipped in with an assist and so did Stephen Blaauw.
The Kingsmen drew 12 ejections, but had a hard time converting off them, and only put in five goals while being a man up. Matt Fong and Justin English tallied three apiece. Hans Cole and Goldsmith both added two more.
Andre Rivas started the game for the Kingsmen in goal and made seven saves. Jonathan Salandi came in for the fourth quarter and came up with two blocks.
Brown got the Kingsmen on the board with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Hightower was feeling the pressure on the left side of the pool. He skipped a pass over to Brown in the middle and he bounced a shot under the goalkeeper's hand to cut the lead in half. Both defenses held their own in the first quarter as CMS had a 2-1 lead.
Lundgren converted a penalty shot to start the scoring for the Kingsmen in the second quarter. On a power play a little bit later, Cal Lutheran tied up the score at 3. Lundgren fired a beautiful shot to the top-right corner of the goal for his second score of the game. Jory got in on the scoring fun, with the assist from Lundgren. Jory placed his shot perfectly to the right side of the goal and tied the game at 4 with 3:25 left in the half. The Stags added one goal before the end of the half and had a 5-4 lead.
The Stags took control in the second half and scored five consecutive goals in the third quarter. CMS took a 10-4 lead to the fourth. CMS scored the first goal of the fourth before Lowe answered with back-to-back goals. CMS still had an 11-6 advantage with 3:30 left in the game.
Goldsmith scored his goal with 2:30 left as CLU continued its comeback. After a Stags' goal, English added his goal and cut the lead to four at 12-8. The rally ultimately fell up short as CMS won 13-8.
Cal Lutheran continues the season at home. The Kingsmen host Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Box Score: CMS 13, CLU 8
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director