?Courtney Droke

In the final 10 minutes of the game, University of La Verne utility player Seth Shelton tried to keep the ball from Johns Hopkins’ driver Kyle Gertridge at the Haldeman Pool Oct. 5. The 2007 Claremont Convergence, hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, was a two-day tournament that brought ULV to a record of 2-12. Having lost 10-9 against Johns Hopkins, ULV managed a 1-3 record at the Convergence and beat Chapman, 11-4. The Leopards are scheduled to play Fresno Pacific Saturday at home.

Dan Sayles
Staff Writer

With the season hitting the halfway point, the University of La Verne men’s water polo team lost three and won one game in the Claremont Convergence hosted by the Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps colleges.

ULV lost the first game against John Hopkins by one point in a 10-9 final, and lost the second game against Iona with a five-point deficit at 11-6.

However, ULV snapped the losing streak by winning against Chapman in a blowout 11-4 point game, and finally losing the final game against UC Santa Cruz with a final score of 7-6.

The first game was held in the Matt M. Axelrood athletics pool on Oct. 5.

Their first match was against the Blue Jays from Johns Hopkins.

Andrew McPartland’s shot past the John Hopkins goalkeeper scored the Leopards’ first goal.

From then on, it was neck and neck throughout the first quarter until ULV pulled through at the end of the quarter with a 3-2 score in La Verne’s favor.

ULV goalkeeper Danny Walters also gave a superb performance as he blocked several goals from the offensive Blue Jays.

After a brief break and a pep talk from their respective coaches, the two teams again collided, again and the Blue Jays began a much more aggressive campaign against the Leopards.

Johns Hopkins’ senior utility Sean McCreery drew first blood, tying the game at 3-3, and the team effectively put the pressure on ULV, who only managed to score one point throughout the quarter.

The quarter finished the game with the 8-4 final in John Hopkins’ favor.

ULV rallied back in the final quarter, increasing their lead, but never quite managed to take the lead, and ultimately fell to John Hopkins.

“It was disappointing to be sure,” said head coach Alex La.

The first game increased ULV’s water polo losing streak to eight games.

“I know we got a crazy streak going,” La said. “But when you look at the score of this game, we went up against the number one team and they won by a single point.”

Walters remained upbeat about it.

“We played a good team, and we took their pressure well. We just didn’t finish it,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll snap our losing streak tonight,” driver Kevin Moore said.

ULV lost the second game that night against Iona in a 11-6 decision, which brought the losing streak to nine games, even though ULV’s Vince MaKuch had a stellar performance, scoring four of La Verne’s goals.

However, ULV won the third game, shattering the streak, in an 11-4 match against Chapman Panthers.

Keeping it close throughout the match with a 3-3 score, ULV then suddenly scored five points against Chapman, to increase their lead to 8-3.

It allowed Chapman to get only one point and Leopards to win the game, 11-4.

Goalie Steve Stragier blocked nine shots from the Panthers successfully, as he shut down their offense.

In the final game, ULV faced off against UC Santa Cruz and ultimately lost 11-9 by the same team that had defeated them earlier in the Slugfest Tournament.

La Verne played hard throughout much of the game, but Santa Cruz rallied, tying it 6-6 and then scoring the winning goal with three seconds left remaining.

The team will now host three consecutive home games, including a doubleheader against Fresno Pacific and Connecticut College on Saturday.

Dan Sayles can be reached at dsayles@ulv.edu.