#19 Air Force Finishes 3-1 At Rare Air Challenge

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - 19th-ranked Air Force men's water polo split a pair of matches Sunday to cap a 3-1 weekend at the Rare Air Challenge at the Cadet Natatorium. The Falcons fell to #5 UC Davis 18-5 and then came back to defeat Cal Lutheran 17-8.

In the UC Davis game, the Falcons were unable to maintain its early momentum, as the Aggies pulled away. Air Force scored the first two goals of the game to jump ahead early. UC Davis responded with four consecutive goals to close out the quarter and take a 4-2 lead.

The Aggies out-scored the Falcons 5-2 in the second quarter to pull away. The offense for Air Force struggled to find open shots, scoring one goal in the second half. Junior Kaito Ham and freshman Tom Leggett led the Falcons with two goals and an assist each. Sophomore Jackson Carter added the fifth goal. Freshmen Jack Richards and Owen Imasaki added assists.

Sophomore Luca Smith had five saves in goal.

Against Cal Lutheran, the Falcons shook off a slow start to pull away to the win. Cal Lutheran took a 2-1 lead early on, but Air Force responded with five unanswered goals to jump ahead 6-2. The Falcons got two more goals before the second quarter ended to build up an 8-3 lead. The Falcons tacked on five goals in both the third and four in the fourth quarters.

The Falcons had 11 players notch a goal against Cal Lutheran, with three players recording three points. Leggett led the Falcons with a hat trick. Ian Christie was one of five Falcons with two goals, adding one assist. Ham and freshman Jack Richards scored a goal and added two assists. Sophomore Jake Dixon, senior Sam De La Cruz and sophomore Bruce Kim scored two goals each.

Smith recorded seven saves in goal for the win.

"The UC Davis game was tough," head coach Ryan Brown said. "They're a good team and ranked fifth for a reason. It was a challenge to play on short rest in game two, but credit to the team for coming back and playing focused. It was great to see the guys sharing the ball and moving it around to get scores. We had a lot of new faces in the pool this weekend and it took some time for our guys to get used to playing with each other. We hope to continue improving as we get ready for next weekend."

Air Force returns to action next weekend at the Inland Empire Tournament in Redlands, Calif, from Sept. 9-10.

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