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Scoreboard

Kenny Wulf from the back
Steven Guersch
14
Winner Air Force AF (14-3, 3-1)
6
Biola BU (1-13, 0-5)
Winner
Air Force AF
(14-3, 3-1)
14
Final
6
Biola BU
(1-13, 0-5)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Air Force AF 5 5 3 1 14
Biola BU 0 2 2 2 6

Game Recap: Men's Water Polo |

50/50

Biola has one tough half followed by one great half in a losing effort vs. USAFA.

LA MIRADA, Calif. —- Biola Men's Water Polo broke the water at night for the first time at SPLASH! on Saturday with the chance to host No. 17 Air Force for a conference match under the lights.

Head Coach Rick Nordell's side battled with the surging Falcons, playing them even (4-4) in the second half, but ultimately could not overcome a slow start defensively in what turned out to be a 14-6 loss.

The Falcons found the twine five times in the first and five times in the second to hit double-digits by the halftime break.

"It takes our team a little bit to realize, 'hey, we can play with these guys.'" said Head Coach Rick Nordell. "Our passes are timid and we second-guess ourselves and a lot of the things we're doing. But, by the second half is when we realize, 'Hey, we can really do something against these guys.'"

Nordell's goal for the team defensively was to limit USAFA to 10 total for the game. While they fell short of that goal, the 10-spot in the first half was not completely at the fault of the defense.

It was mostly offensive turnovers leading to counterattack scores that helped the visiting team pile on early. Air Force ended the game with 15 steals, including 12 steals in the first half.

The final 16 minutes saw drastic improvement on both sides of the pool as Biola began to protect the ball better in its own possession, and Nolan Rapp, Will Tibbetts and Kenny Wulf led the charge as BU racked up the defensive takeaways. 

The result was a much closer, much more competitive second half. Biola out-scored the Falcons in the final quarter in front of Casey Cazanjian in the cage.

"Before the game started we talked about taking pride in our defense and really playing with that aggressiveness," said Nordell. "It took us until that second half to realize we can do that, we can play with the intense defense and stick with our guys. We've just got to have that mentality to start, we've got to have that can-do attitude."

Wulf and Maxwell Osborn both had multi-goal games for BU. They're the two leading Point men for Nordell this year.

Rapp had three steals and Wulf had a pair as Biola finished with 10 takeaways on the night.

On the offensive end, Biola was able to draw two five-meter penalty attempts in this one and converted on both of them. Osborn scored one and Wulf pocketed the other. 

"We have players that can play, and we really have to believe in ourselves a little more. That's a big thing," said Nordell.

The win allowed USAFA to improve upon their best season in three decades, moving to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Biola moves to 1-13 and 0-5 in the WWPA.

It's another full week off for Nordell's Eagles. Their next chance is a road match at Loyola Marymount (5-9, 1-0 WWPA) next Saturday at 11 a.m. Look for BU to try to roll out of the vans with confidence in that one, eager to compete with the top-15 Lions.
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