Claremont, Calif.— The Cal Lutheran men's water polo team competed at the Gary Troyer Invite on Friday afternoon and took down Johns Hopkins 17-11, but fell to Santa Clara 14-5.
The Kingsmen had a break from SCIAC and played in the Gary Troyer Invite which is a two-day tournament with 21 teams included. The Santa Clara Broncos are a Division I team while Johns Hopkins is D-III. With the split, the Kingsmen are 3-7.
Cal Lutheran vs. Johns Hopkins
The Kingsmen had it rolling against the Blue Jays as they scored five goals in the first, second and fourth quarters. Even with the Kingsmen playing so well, the teams exchanged points over the first half of the first quarter and the Blue Jays had a 3-2 lead. CLU answered with three goals to end the quarter, including a full-length buzzer beater from goalkeeper Andre Rivas.
The scoring kept coming in the second quarter as the Kingsmen had a 10-7 advantage at the break. CLU outscored the Blue Jays 7-4 the rest of the way and took the win 17-11. The Kingsmen were 5-of-6 on power play opportunities while holding Johns Hopkins to 1-of-6.
Cole Weiderman impressed with five goals and drew three drawn ejections, which the Kingsmen scored off of every time. Parker Jory, Tanner Kaplan and Wyatt Lowe added two goals each as CLU moved the ball around well. Justin Krause shared the ball and dished out five assists while Ben Brown, Dillon Goldsmith, Seth Hightower and George Lundgren each had two.
Rivas was big in between the posts and tallied 17 saves. He showed off an all-around game with two steals, one assist and the one goal. The defense was led by Brown with three steals.
Cal Lutheran vs. Santa Clara
The Broncos showed their power as the Division I team took control of the game early on. After Santa Clara got the first goal, Cal Lutheran was quick to fire back as Kaplan converted on his shot. The Broncos added two more goals in the quarter and had a 3-1 lead going to the second quarter.
The Kingsmen scored on their first possession of the second quarter as Kaplan notched his second goal, making it a one-point game. Santa Clara added two more before Krause answered, keeping it a close game with the D-I team at 4-3. The Broncos ended their first half on a 3-1 run, as Brown scored for the Kingsmen, as SCU had a 7-4 lead. Santa Clara's offense and defense picked up in the second half as they outscored the Kingsmen 7-1. Angelo Devito scored for the Kingsmen, but the Broncos won the game 14-5.
Jonathan Salandi was in the goal and made nine saves and three steals. Goldsmith added three assists and Weiderman drew five ejections.
The Kingsmen continue the tournament tomorrow with Fresno Pacific at 9 a.m. and McKendree at 2:20. Live streams and live stats can be found at clusports.com
Box Score: SCU 14, CLU 5; CLU 17, JHU 11
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
