SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Fresno Pacific men's water polo competed at the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament, hosted by Santa Clara, from Oct. 23-24, facing Division I and nationally-ranked Cal Baptist, Long Island and Iona over two days of action. The 'Birds rallied on day two and defeated Long Island 15-14 in a close match.
"This weekend was a great chance for us to get tested against DI competition one last time before the rest of our conference schedule," said head coach
Jonathan Miller. "After a tough one against CBU (a Top-15 team) on Friday, we're really happy to get a win against a solid LIU team. I thought we competed well for four quarters against Iona! Overall, it was a really productive weekend for us. We're excited to get home and celebrate our seniors on Tuesday!
Cal Baptist University
The 'Birds opened the tournament Friday against Cal Baptist, a rival they have faced three times this season (Inland Empire Classic and Lancer Joust). Despite CBU's offensive prowess, the Sunbirds battled throughout the match before falling 26-10. Eight different Sunbirds were able to dent the twine over the course of the match. In the cage,
Chase Hammes tallied 10 saves over 24 minutes and
Ben Rapley stepped in to collect two in eight minutes.
Long Island University
On Saturday, FPU mounted an impressive comeback against Long Island after falling behind early.
Giacomo Hernandez opened the scoring for the Sunbirds before
Ryder Stermer,
Jake Canales and
Tristin Fox helped fuel a rally. Fox gave FPU its first lead, and Stermer scored on a penalty shot and Canales had the final shot at 30 seconds to grab the 9-7 advantage into the second half. The teams traded goals throughout the third quarter, with FPU briefly pulling ahead 11-9 before Long Island rallied to tie the game at 11. Fresno Pacific didn't give up hope and came away with the 15-14 win.
Canales led the Sunbirds with five goals, Stermer followed with four of his own and
Chase Hammes recorded a season-high 15 saves in the cage (two saves shy of his career-best).
Iona University
FPU closed the tournament against Iona, keeping pace through the middle quarters in a back-and-forth battle. After Iona recorded back-to-back goals twice in the first quarter, the Sunbirds closed the first quarter with goals from Fox at 1:05 and Stermer, assisted by
Colton Parks, at :11. Stermer struck again at 6:19 in the second quarter and Parks followed at 4:56, giving the Sunbirds four consecutive goals before Iona responded with the final two goals of the half. Stermer scored twice in the fourth quarter, including a penalty shot, but Iona pulled away late for a 15-11 decision despite the Sunbirds' continued push.
Stermer collected an additional four goals to end the day with eight overall. Hammes had seven saves in the cage, tallying 32 saves in total over the weekend.
Fresno Pacific is 5-16 overall and 1-2 in WWPA play.
NEXT UP: The Sunbirds celebrate senior day on Tuesday, October 27th at 6pm! Come down to Sanger West High School to cheer on your Sunbirds as they face Merced College!
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