The first day of the 2014 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships Tournament began on Friday, November 21, on the campus of the University of Redlands at the Thompson Aquatic Center. All SCIAC teams participated in the tournament today, with the outcomes resembling the expectations based on seeding without a single upset.
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs battled it out with the No. 5-seeded Cal Lutheran Kingsmen in the final game of the day, earning a decisive 12-6 win to propel the host school onto tomorrow's semifinal match against No. 1 Whittier College.
Both teams traded off two goals in the first period, setting the stage for a tough match-up. Senior utility player Zack Graper (Simi Valley, CA) proved to be the main offensive weapon for the Kingsmen as he notched the two scores in the first period. Freshman driver Kevin Chapa (Carlsbad, CA) and senior center David Sekula (LaGrange, IL) fired home one goal each for Redlands.
The Bulldogs began to stretch their lead by outscoring Cal Lutheran, 3-1, in the second frame. Senior driver Michael Robinson (Corona, CA) registered two goals, while sophomore center driver Mark Zikov (La Quinta, CA) found the back of the net once.
The Maroon and Gray remained dominant in the final two periods, putting together a 7-3 run to close out the win. Freshman center Matthew Shippen (Santa Maria, CA) provided some late-game dominance by scoring four goals in the final two periods.
Sophomore goalkeeper Chris Sekula (LaGrange, ID) provided a stellar effort between the pipes, hauling in 11 saves for the Bulldogs.
Earlier in the day, the No. 8-seeded Occidental College Tigers rolled to an 11-4 win over the No. 9 Caltech Beavers in the play-in game of the tournament.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 3-1 advantage in the first period after netting two quick scores to start the contest. Sophomore utility player Matt Munet (Break, CA) and sophomore attacker Paul Bergevin (Los Altos, CA) initiated the offense within the first three minutes.
Occidental made it a 5-1 lead midway through the second frame when freshman attacker Taylor Russell capped off a solid showing with his first goal of the game.
Leading 6-3, the Tigers continued to dominate during the remaining two periods, limiting the Beavers to only one score in the final 16 minutes.
Bergevin finished with a game-high three goals.
The No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Stags broke open a 10-all tie to push past the seventh-seeded University of La Verne Leopards in the second game of the day, prevailing by a final tally of 16-12.
In the high-scoring contest, there was rarely dull moment. The Stags jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period. Sophomore Chris Bradley (Half Moon Bay, CA) snagged the second goal of the game off a penalty shot to expand their lead.
La Verne cut the deficit down to one score with three minutes left in the second half, as junior utility player Jordan Bowers (Bellevue, WA) netted a shot to make it 5-6.
Both teams traded off goals with two minutes left in the second period.
With a 7-7 tie entering into the third frame, the game continued to go back and forth, with the score knotted at eight, nine and 10 goals apiece.
In the end, the Stags outscored the Leopards 6-2 through the final 10 minutes of the game, thus taking home a 16-12 victory. Capitalizing off numerous missed opportunities from La Verne, CMS netted five fourth-quarter scores. For CMS, junior attacker Tanner Cullen (Lafayette, CA) led the way with four goals in the contest, while junior driver Adam Hilborn (Chula Vista, CA) finished with three netters.
For ULV, junior driver Bryan Jimenez (Commerce, CA) and Josh Vega (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) each had four scores.
After defeating Caltech in the opener, the Tigers met up against the top-seeded Whittier College Poets in Friday's third game.
The Poets showed no mercy following the first whistle, attacking the Tigers early and often to gain a quick 10-3 lead through the first two stanzas. Senior goalkeeper Ryan Brunansky (Poway, CA) was solid for the Poets, corralling five saves.
Any evenly dispersed offensive arsenal continued to propel the Poets, as they netted three or more goals in the final two periods.
Overall, 12 different players scored for Whittier, which eventually captured an impressive 17-7 victory over the Tigers.
The third-seeded Chapman University Panthers faced off against the No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens in the fourth game of the day.
In a hard-fought showdown, the teams traded off goals, leading to a three-all tie through the midway point of the second quarter.
The Panthers netted back-to-back goals, compliments of senior drivers Chase Middlesworth (Bellevue, WA) and Mark Alvarado (Chicago, IL), to gain a 5-3 advantage through two stanzas.
The Sagehens cut the deficit to one after junior attacker Neil Forsythe (Thousand Oaks, CA) fired home a score.
But the Panthers pulled away in the fourth by scoring four unanswered goals. Junior goalkeeper Stephen Neil (Escondido, CA) was a key factor to keeping Pomona-Pitzer off the scoreboard in the final frame, as he hauled in four saves to add to his total of 14 in the contest.
Tomorrow's first semifinal pits Chapman and CMS against each other at 11:45 a.m. before Redlands and Whittier take to the pool at 1:30 p.m. for the second semifinal. La Verne and Caltech battle it out in the day's opener at 10 a.m., while Cal Lutheran and Occidental square off at 3:15 p.m. The final match of the day includes the winner between La Verne and Caltech facing Pomona-Pitzer at 5 p.m.