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Matt Vinson passing
Samantha Rainey
12
Fresno Pacific FPU (1-11, 0-4)
16
Winner Biola BU (8-13, 1-4)
Fresno Pacific FPU
(1-11, 0-4)
12
Final
16
Biola BU
(8-13, 1-4)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Fresno Pacific FPU 3 3 3 3 12
Biola BU 4 3 2 7 16

Game Recap: Men's Water Polo |

Get That Win In

Biola earns its first regular season WWPA victory with a 16-12 defeat of Fresno Pacific.

LA MIRADA, Calif. — History was accomplished on Thursday as Biola Men's Water Polo earned its first Western Water Polo Association victory in program history. The Eagles upended the visiting Fresno Pacific Sunbirds by using seven fourth-quarter goals to earn a 16-12 victory.

The Eagles beat FPU in the WWPA tournament last year, but before today Head Coach Rick Nordell's side had yet to earn a regular season conference win.

With that burden off their backs, the team will have a chance to add up to three more WWPA wins this year, including Friday against No. 17 Santa Clara.

This contest was tightly contested through the first three periods, with both teams recording nine goals over the first 24 minutes. FPU took a 2-0 lead right out the gate, and Biola would not lead until a Caleb Hernandez goal made it 4-3 with 1:30 left in the first.

The Eagles would either lead or sit tied with FPU from that point until FPU's Christian Clark found the back of the net 2:24 before halftime to put the Sunbirds on top 6-5.

A John Grasso goal just 12 seconds before halftime gave the lead back to Biola at 7-6 and then FPU used a 3-2 advantage in the third period to set up the sprint to the finish. The third quarter was the only one in this game where FPU outscored the Eagles.

Facing a bit of unexpected adversity, Biola answered the call and got off to a scorching start to the fourth quarter, which allowed the team to play a bit more freely for the balance of the contest.

Biola scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter off some dandies from Matthew Vinson, Dominic Hidalgo-Valecillo and Maxwell Osborn, taking a 12-9 lead barely two minutes into the final frame.

The goal from Hidalgo-Valecillo came courtesy some tremendous water polo awareness as with his back to the cage, he scooped up a ball after a FPU defender deflected a Biola pass and barely managed to spin and get his head above water before firing off an unexpected shot that caught the goalkeeper napping.

Biola would score four more times over the remaining five-plus minutes to lock this one up handily and never really let FPU even get close to sniffing the lead. Kenny Wulf had two fourth-quarter goals to help the team down the stretch.

Mitchell Carpenter had 12 saves in the contest to increase his standing as the WWPA's leader in that category. The 12 saves were above his season average thus far.

Vinson and Osborn were Biola's leading scorers. They both notched a hat trick, with it being Vinson's first hattie here at Biola.

The primary facilitators were Wulf and Hidalgo-Valecillo who ended up with five points and four points, respectively.

The win moves Biola to 8-13 overall and 1-4 in WWPA competition this year. The Eagles have three matches at home on Friday as they co-host the CBU Lancer Joust at SPLASH. First up is the Santa Clara match, but BU also checks in against Westcliff and Austin College later in the day.
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