CLAREMONT, Calif.— The Cal Lutheran Kingsmen water polo team put up a tough fight, but fell to the top team in the conference, the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 17-7, Wednesday afternoon in Haldeman Pool.
The loss snapped the Kingsmen's four-game winning streak. Cal Lutheran is now 14-11 overall and 6-6 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.
Dillon Goldsmith led the Cal Lutheran offense with two goals. Five more Kingsmen each scored one goal as Stephen Blaauw, Ben Brown, Taylor Garcia, Tanner Kaplan and George Lundgren all found the back of the net.
Goldsmith and Lundgren recorded the most drawn ejections with two apiece. Six more Kingsmen added one. Cal Lutheran tallied three assists on the day as Blaauw, Matt Fong and Tommy Corey all dished out one.
Defensively, Goldsmith tallied two steals and Brown, Parker Jory and Lundgren each chipped in with one. Andre Rivas was in the cage for the Kingsmen and made six saves and added two steals.
The Kingsmen scored on their first possession of the game as Blaauw gave CLU the early lead. Pomona-Pitzer then scored two straight and took its first lead of the game. Lundgren answered the Sagehens and tied the game back up with 4:59 left in the quarter. Cal Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer both added a goal over the rest of the quarter and the score was tied at 3. Goldsmith scored the third goal for CLU.
Pomona-Pitzer got its offense going in the second quarter and the defense shut down the Kingsmen. The Sagehens opened the second quarter with three goals and had a 6-3 lead as CLU called a timeout with 3:35 left in the half. PP made it four straight before Goldsmith scored to stop the run. The Sagehens added one more before the second quarter was done and had an 8-4 lead at the half.
The Sagehens didn't let up in the second half. Pomona-Pitzer outscored Cal Lutheran 7-2 in the third quarter and took a 15-6 lead. Brown and Kaplan scored for the Violet and Gold. Cal Lutheran scored one more goal in the fourth as Garcia found the back of the net, but the Kingsmen fell to the Sagehens 17-7.
Cal Lutheran returns home for its final two games of the season. The Kingsmen host Occidental for Senior Day on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Box Score: PP 17, CLU 7
CLU Instagram: CLUSports
Sport IG: kingsmen_water_polo
CLU Twitter: CLUSports
Sport Twitter: CLUmWaterPolo
CLU Facebook: CLUSports
Hashtags: #clusports #ownthethrone #goregals #gokingsmen #theSCIAC #ncaad3
Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director