REDLANDS, Calif.— Ben Brown scored five goals and Andre Rivas made eight saves as Cal Lutheran men's water polo picked up a big win on the road and defeated the Redlands Bulldogs 15-11 on Tuesday night.
With the win the Kingsmen avenged an early season loss to the Bulldogs and got back above .500 in SCIAC play at 6-5. The win also broke a tie with Chapman for the No. 4 spot in the conference.
It's a three-way battle for the final spot in the conference tournament between the Kingsmen, Redlands (4-6) and Chapman (5-5). Cal Lutheran and Chapman will play each other one more time.
The offense came to play against Redlands as Tanner Kaplan and George Lundgren joined Brown in the scoring column as they both added a hat trick. Four more Kingsmen scored as the Violet and Gold moved the ball to find the open man.
Cole Weiderman kept up his great play as he drew four ejections and Wyatt Lowe drew three more. The Kingsmen were 4-of-10 in power play opportunitiesand held the Bulldogs to 5-of-11.
The defense stepped up when needed as six different Kingsmen recorded a steal. Lundgren led the way with three steals as CLU outscored UR in the first three quarters. Rivas was in the cage for the entirety of the game and got the win.
With every last game meaning so much, the Kingsmen came out on fire in the first quarter. Although, the offenses were held scoreless for the first three and a half minutes, they picked up the pace as six goals were scored over the next 5:30. CLU got on the board first as Kaplan and Lundgren scored back-to-back goals. The teams went every other the rest of the quarter as Lowe scored with four seconds left and the Kingsmen took a 4-2 lead to the second quarter.
Redlands would keep cutting the lead one, as they scored first in the second half, but Kaplan added his second goal to push the lead back to two. The game continued with the same scenario throughout the quarter as Redlands would make it a one-point deficit and Cal Lutheran would push the lead back to two. Brown tallied his first goal to give CLU a 6-4 lead with 2:29 left in the half. The Kingsmen defense tightened up down the stretch as the offense scored the final three goals of the half, two from Brown and one from Parker Jory, as they took a 9-5 lead into the break.
Both defenses picked up in the second half as only two goals were scored in the first three and a half minutes. The Kingsmen added two more goals down the stretch, compared to the Bulldogs' one, and were up 12-7 at the end of three. The big lead allowed the Kingsmen to coast the rest of the way as they picked up a huge 15-11 win against the Bulldogs.
Cal Lutheran will get back in the pool right away as they host Caltech on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Samuelson Aquatics Center
Box Score: CLU 15, UR 11
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
