Leila El Sabbagh
Staff Writer
Men’s water polo dropped their second consecutive game to the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen, 14-11, Saturday at the La Verne Aquatic Center in Las Flores Park.
This loss followed their 17-12 loss against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on Oct. 23.
The Leopards started the game off strong with a quick goal in the opening minute by senior center David Gutierrez after an exclusion penalty against Cal Lutheran.
However, just 20 seconds later, the Kingsmen struck back with a goal by senior attacker Lincoln Hall.
After a string of three Kingsmen goals, the Leopards were able to snag their next goal from sophomore attacker Jordan Baker, making the score at the end of the first quarter 4-2 Cal Lutheran.
“Going in we were lacking energy,” sophomore attacker Nicolo Buono said. “We huddled up, and realized that if we could bring ourselves up we could get back in this game.”
Buono, who was named Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 21, has been an instrumental player for the team.
“He’s been critical to us. We talk about him going 6-for-6 during our game against Occidental a lot,” head coach Pat Beemer said. “He’s been having an unbelievable season.”
With four seconds left in the quarter, the Leopards were able to draw a penalty and would be on the power play.
Heading into the second quarter, the Kingsmen were able to win the opening sprint returning to full strength.
Cal Lutheran scored the first two goals of the quarter with one being an extraman goal and the other a penalty goal.
“I feel like we were able to keep it together in the second quarter,” graduate student attacker Alam Chang-Barnuevo said. “The energy was a little flat but I think we tried to maintain our composure doing the best we could on defense.”
The Leopards finished out the half scoring three consecutive goals, one being an extra man goal, with a score of 6-5 Kingsmen.
Senior goalkeeper Eric Bates was a key player in the game staying strong in net with 11 saves.
“On defense I feel like it was all a really well oiled machine. We definitely made some stops that were crucial and rallied around that,” Bates said.
Cal Lutheran was able to score the opening goal of the half, however freshman center defender Vaughn Freiermuth was able to answer back with a goal off a rebound.
As their defense fed their offense, the Leopards continued to attack in the third quarter scoring an additional two goals.
The Kingsmen went into the final quarter leading, 10-8.
As Cal Lutheran and the Leopards exchanged three goals each, the water began to boil with intensity.
While the clock was ticking down, Bates swam out of the net to give the Leopards an extra attacker on offense.
However, it did not affect the Kingsmen as they were able to score an empty net goal making the final score 14-11 Cal Lutheran.
“The conference is very tight this year so as we get closer to playoffs it’s going to be more and more intense,” Beemer said.
The Leopards faced off against the Bulldogs in Redlands on Wednesday, coming away with a 16-9 loss. They are currently 7-17 overall and 2-6 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The squad will travel to Chapman for a game at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by a rematch with Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Leila El Sabbagh can be reached at leila.elsabbagh@laverne.edu.
Leila El Sabbagh is the sports editor for the Campus Times. She is a sophomore journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism who aspires to be a sports broadcaster. She has previously served as a staff writer for the Campus Times.
