Air Force Academy
Cal Baptist
Falcons earn conference win over Cal Baptist, 13-10
10/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Air Force, ranked 18th in the nation, earned its first conference win of the season with a 13-10 win over No. 19 Cal Baptist, in a Western Water Polo Association game Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Academy's Cadet Natatorium.
The Falcons (7-15 overall and 1-3 in the WWPA) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first period, behind an aggressive defense that created nine steals in the first eight minutes. Junior Robby Stiefel opened the scoring at 6:21. After he stole a Lancer pass, he sprinted on a breakaway and scored for a 1-0 lead. Senior Oliver Carter made a perfect pass to Justin Harrison in the middle for a 2-0 lead at 4:59. Just 30 seconds later, the Falcons went up 3-0 on Zack Kamai's goal from Edward Smet. Harrison put the Falcons up 4-0 when he created a steal in front of the Lancer net and scored at 2:18. The Falcons went up 5-0 at 1:06 of the first quarter when Riley Thomas scored off a Riley Quinlan assist.
Air Force took a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter on the power play. Eric Curia scored from Thomas at 6:36. However, after that goal, the Lancers (14-11 overall and 1-4 WWPA) scored four straight to cut the Falcon lead to 6-4. Elad Gunya scored at 6:06, Christopher Forte scored at 4:32 and Thomas Henline found the back of the net at 2:44 on the power play. The Lancers cut the Air Force lead to 6-4 when goalie Joseph Moorman made a long outlet pass and Tanner Shore, who scored at 2:13. The Falcons answered with three goals in the final 1:18. Stiefel's second of the game came on a long shot from the left side at 1:18. Riley Thomas then scored on a skip shot with 37 seconds left and Bryce Leiter scored with a back-hander with 18 seconds remaining to make the score 9-4 at the half.
Lancer Clint Walling scored early in the third quarter and then two goals by Forte and one by Stiefel cut the Falcons' lead to 10-7. Late in the period, Falcon goalie Max Benson made a save on a breakaway and the Falcons capitalized on the counter attack. Thomas fed Harrison for a back-hand skip shot with 1:03 left in the third for an 11-7 AF lead.
Moorman made two saves on penalty shots, one late in the third and one early in the fourth, as the Falcons held on to the four-goal lead. Brett Teraoka scored early in the fourth quarter, but the Falcons netted the next two. Harrison scored at 6:38 and Ben Rogers scored with skip shot from the point at 2:38 as the Falcons extended their lead to 13-8. CBU scored the last two goals of the game to make up the final margin.
Harrison led the Falcons with four goals while Stiefel had three. Thomas led the Falcons with three assists and Stiefel had a team-high five steals. As a team, Air Force had a season-high 21 steals.
Air Force returns to the road for the final two regular-season conference games of the season. The Falcons face Fresno Pacific on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. PT and then Santa Clara on Nov. 8 at 12 p.m. PT.
10/31/15 vs. Cal Baptist, USAFA, Colo.
Goals by Qtr. 1 2 3 4 Final
#19 Cal Baptist 0 4 3 3 10
#18 Air Force 5 4 2 2 13
Starters: Carter, Fisk, Rogers, Curia, Thomas, Stiefel, Benson
Played: Kamai, Leiter, Harrison, Smet, Quinlan, Lee, Housken, Colas, Guarino
Goals (13): Harrison 4, Stiefel 3, Thomas 2, Kamai 1, Curia 1, Rogers 1, Leiter 1
Assists (10): Thomas 3, Smet 2, Carter 2, Quinlan 1, Stiefel 1, Rogers 1
Steals (21): Stiefel 5, Quinlan 3, Carter 2, Rogers 2, McCarthy 2, Thomas 2, Harrison 2, Kamai 1, Curia 1, Benson 1
Goals Against (10): Benson 9, Guarino 1
Saves (24): Benson 11, Guarino 1
6-on-5: AF 2/6; CBU 4/7
Penalties: AF 0/2
