THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Sept. 20, 2008) –
In the first of two days of competition at the second annual CLU
Fall Tournament Occidental split, picking up their first win of the
2008 season with a 9-8 victory over Fresno Pacific after falling
short 11-9 against SCIAC foe Cal Lutheran in the morning at the
Samuelson Aquatics Center.
The first quarter was a battle in and of
itself with nine of the 17 goals being scored during that eight
minute frame. Oxy took a 5-4 lead after the first, but trailed 6-5
at the break.
Oxy stormed back with two goals in each of the
final two periods, while holding FPU to just a pair of goals,
clinching the win.
The Tigers were led by sophomore
Adalberto Vasquez who scored a hat trick for Oxy.
Sean Inoue added a pair while Tai
McDermot, Cameron Brahmst, Jake Santelli
and Andrew Valdes each scored one.
In game one of the tournament for Oxy, a
second half come-back ended just short.
CLU jumped out to a 5-1 lead at the end of the
first period of play, with the lone Tiger score coming from Valdes,
a senior attacker, who found the back of the net with 3:14 to play
in the opening frame.
Each team added a pair of goals in the second
quarter, giving CLU a 7-3 half time advantage.
Again teams exchanged hat tricks in the third
quarter. A 3-1 run at the end of the game pulled the game close at
11-9, but was too little too late for Oxy in the tournament opener.
Valdes led all players with four goals, while
Greg Benz added a pair and John Wensman,
Austen Oliver and McDermot each added a goal to round out
the offense. McDermot's scored in the second quarter of
action marking his first collegiate goal.
Occidental will travel back to Thousand Oaks
tomorrow to conclude the tournament with a pair of games against
Ventura College at 11:30 a.m. followed by a SCIAC match-up between
the University of La Verne and the Tigers slated to begin at 2:45
p.m.
