LA VERNE, Calif. — Cal Lutheran women's water polo was on the road Saturday and took on two opponents in La Verne and St. Francis.
La Verne won the conference matchup 13-10 and the Division I opponent, St. Francis, took the non-conference game 16-7.
In their first game of the day against La Verne, the Regals found themselves in an early hole and were down 4-0. The teams exchanged goals the rest of the quarter as the Leopards led 5-3. La Verne started the second quarter just as fast as they first and pushed their lead back to four. Cal Lutheran scored one more goal in the half, but trailed 7-4. La Verne held at least a three-point lead throughout the entire second half and did not let the Regals back in the game.
Kaitlin Gardhouse, Katie Knight, Kemi Dijkstra and Bethany Metcalfe had two goals each. Gardhouse kept the ball moving and dished out a game-high six assists. Gardhouse added three drawn ejections and Knight and Dijkstra had two each.
On defense, Jacsen Donohue and Izzy De Souza led the way with three steals each. Tori Portillo and Vianne Will were next with two each. De Souza was in goal for three quarters. She took recorded seven, but had 11 goals against and took the loss. Will also saw time, playing in the fourth quarter, and made two saves.
Versus St. Francis, it was Cal Lutheran that took an early lead and went up 2-0. The Division I team then flexed and scored six straight to take a four-point lead after the first quarter. The Red Flash made it eight straight points and had a commanding 8-2 lead with 5:12 remaining in the half. The Regals battled the rest of the way, but the Red Flash overpowered them and took the game.
The offense came from all over the pool as seven different Regals scored. Metcalfe led the team in assist with two and Paige Woodside, Taryn Sato, and Portillo had the most steals with two.
Will was in goal for Cal Lutheran. She played the entire game and made 12 saves with a percentage of .429. She added two steals.
The Regals return home after being away for four games. Cal Lutheran hosts Whittier on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
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