RIVERSIDE — After dropping the first two games of the Lancer Invitational on Friday night, the men's water polo team showed improvement in a loss on Saturday against Concordia University, but still left the Cal Baptist tourney 0-4.
The Tigers fell to the Eagles by a score of 15-9, a decent showing considering the 19-5 loss Oxy was handed when the two teams met back on Sept 8.
Oxy coach Larry Zubrin was pleased to see his team play better, but indicated there's still a long way to go.
"We made some adjustments on defense, and it helped, but we're still making a lot of unforced mistakes. " Zubrin said. "It's the kind of thing you'd expect from such a young squad at this level, but at some point it's something we're going to have to get past if we want to start getting some wins."
The teams played a back and forth first quarter. Trailing 1-0, Oxy sophomore Jack Sinclair (Alhambra) scored on a direct shot at the 5-minute mark to even the game, 1-1
CUI would score the next two goals, but once again, Oxy responded with back-to-back scores from sophomore Samuel Akiyama (Aptos) to tie the game again. Akiyama finished with three goals.
Concordia managed one more goal before the end of the first to take a 4-3 lead into the break.
Concordia opened the scoring early in the second, but Junior Jack Stabenfeldt (Larkspur) scored three goals in the period and Oxy trailed by just one at half.
The third quarter was Oxy's downfall, as they were outscored by a 7-1 margin and the teams went into the final quarter with Concordia ahead 14-7.
The Tigers outscored the Eagles 2-1 in the final frame, but at that point the game was already out of reach.
Oxy lost its second match of the day and final match of the tournament Riverside College 17-10.
The Tigers will begin SCIAC play with a home match on Wednesday against Cal Lutheran at Taylor Pool at 5 p.m. Oxy plays a nightcap against Citrus College at 7 p.m. later Wednesday evening.
BOX SCORE 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 4 2 1 2 9
Concordia 5 3 7 1 15
GOALS SCORED:
Occidental-Stabenfeldt-3, Akiyama-3, Sinclair-1, Maloney-1, Virshup-1
Concordia-Antal-4, Davis-3, Paulson-2, Buhagiar-3, Gonzales-1, Mcdonald-2
SAVES:
Occidental-Churchman-12
Concordia-Lucia-9
Box Score 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 1 3 1 5 10
RCC 4 5 5 3 17
GOALS SCORED:
Occidental Akiyama-4, Whitmore-2, Maloney-2, Franscioni-1, Stabenfeldt-1
RCC-Virgil-6, Thompson-1, Forte-1, Clark-1, Myers-2, Redmond-2, Hass-1, Copelan-1, Walker-1, Lateru-1
SAVES:
Occidental-Churchman-8, Needleman-1
RCC-Caraway-16
Box Score 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 3 1 4 2 10
Fresno Pacific 5 7 7 1 20
GOALS SCORED:
Occidental-Stabenfeldt-4, Reynolds-2, Akiyama-2, Maloney-1, Whitmore-1
FPU-n/a
SAVES:
Occidental-Churchman-8
FPU-n/a
Box Score 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 4 1 2 2 9
Cal Baptist 5 5 8 3 21
GOALS SCORED:
Occidental-Akiyama-3, Lubbers-2, Heffner-1, Reynolds-1, Stabenfedlt-2
CBU-n/a
SAVES:
Occidental-Churchman-7, Fish-3
CBU-n/a
