THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Coming off a 4-0 showing at the Gary Troyer Tournament, the Cal Lutheran men's water polo team jumped out to a quick lead over LA Valley today, but dropped a low-scoring 8-6 affair in the tale of two halves at the Samuelson Aquatics Center this afternoon.
CLU promptly put up three goals while playing sound defense as the Kingsmen won the opening period. After the first quick break, the squad jumped back in to tack on two more while surrendering a pair to take a 5-2 advantage at the midway point, but things went south in the second half. Out of the intermission, LAVC stole the momentum, cutting the gap to one, 6-5, at the end of the third quarter. The Monarchs earned the upper hand at 7-6 with 4:19 to play and netted another for an 8-6 advantage late in the fourth as the Violet and Gold were unable to connect on several opportunities over the final half of the frame.
The scoring was spread out as six different players, Mats Albins, Hans Cole, Taggart Diehl, Chris Gardhouse, Andre Laserna and Kevin Oetken each found the back of the net. Justin English handed out two assists and Oetken added another. Gardhouse drew a team-high four ejections and both Oetken and George French had one apiece.
Nick Loomis did the goalkeeping, earning eight saves on a day when the defense tallied six field blocks with one apiece from English, Gardhouse, Laserna, Stephen Blaauw, Matt Fong and Jack Kirby. In addition, French, Gardhouse and Wyatt Lowe notched two stelas apiece.
Cal Lutheran (8-8, 2-2 SCIAC) returns to conference action on Wednesday, Oct. 11 when the Kingsmen host Whittier for a 4:00 p.m. first sprint at the SAC.
Box Score: LAVC 8, CLU 6
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Release by Tracy L. Olson, Sports Information Director
