Owls Come Home With Split at Lancer Invite

Riverside, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Water Polo team came back from Riverside this past weekend with a split, winning both games on Friday and losing a pair on Saturday. Most times that may be cause for alarm with the Owls, but this time around Citrus has nothing to hang their heads about as they took on four, four-year schools, losing to a school ranked #16 if the nation across all NCAA Divisions, and coming away with a victory over a university that received votes nationally.

The weekend started off with their host for the tournament California Baptist University. The Lancers were unranked in the most recent NCAA Poll, but was one of four schools to receive votes outside the Top 20. The Owls opened up with a 5-2 first quarter and tried to never look back. Citrus opened up a 9-4 lead at the half and then had to hold on over the final two quarters where they were outscored 9-6 for the 15-13 win. Sophomore Jonathan Lotero led all Owls with five goals and five drawn ejections, while freshman Daniel Velazquez had four goals, four assists, and four steals.

After the win over the Lancers, the Owls took on the University of La Verne for the second time this season. After dropping the initial contest with the Leopards 11-7, the Owls got some revenge on Friday with a 17-12 victory. Citrus outscored La Verne in all but the fourth quarter and led by as much as five at the break. Lotero pumped in seven more scores, while Velazquez scored five.

Things got a little tougher on Saturday when Citrus opened up with Calremont McKenna-Mudd-Scripps College, ranked #16 in the country. The Owls fell behind after the first 6-2, but tried to work their way back in, in the second trailing 12-7. The Stags opened up with a big third though, and Citrus never recovered in a 21-10 loss. Lotero was virtually the entire offense for Citrus in the loss, scoring six of the owls' 10 goals.

A few hours later, Citrus closed out the weekend against a good University of Redlands team. The Owls matched the Bulldogs output in the first and even led after the second and third quarters, winning 4-3 at the break 8-6 after three. Redlands came out with a vengeance in the fourth though, and Citrus floundered getting outscored 6-2 in a 12-10 loss. In the loss freshman Mark Naranjo led all Owl scorers with three goals. Sophomores Brandt Restad and Robert Renteria each added a pair of scores.

With the two wins and two losses, Citrus' record moves to 15-5 overall. The Owls will be back in action this Wednesday when they host Cuesta College in another big Western State Conference meeting. The game is set for a 3:00 PM start.