Angie Gangi
Staff Writer

Feelings of excitement became frustration Saturday as the La Verne men’s water polo team lost to Redlands, 4-3.

“We jumped out 3-0 and Redlands just chipped away little by little,” ULV assistant coach Fred Sicard said. “We didn’t generate any offense for two and a half quarters and it was really frustrating to watch.”
Sophomore utility Andrew McPartland began the ULV momentum with the first goal of the game.

As the final seconds of the first quarter ended, senior driver Jared Carvitto
scored off his own rebound to give ULV a comfortable 2-0 lead.

“We knew we had to slow La Verne’s offense down,” Redlands head coach Tom Whittemore said. “ I tried to reassure my team that if we continued to work hard offensively and stayed with the game plan then we would eventually score on some of the opportunities.”

The Leopards have played well together this season with an overall record of 14-8 and a 3-2 record in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

After sophomore driver Seth Shelton scored La Verne’s third goal during the second quarter to make the score 3-0, La Verne’s momentum and confidence were apparent.

The momentum and confidence disappeared towards the end of the second quarter as Redlands rattled off two goals before halftime leaving the score, 3-2.

“We didn’t convert any of our offensive opportunities,” junior driver Darren Richards said. “We have decent defense but our offense was off.”

With only 18 seconds left in the third quarter, Redlands tied up the game, 3-3.

ULV goalie Steven Straiger recorded seven saves throughout the game.

The score remained 3-3 until the last two minutes of the contest.
With only 1:22 left in the game, Redlands junior two-meter Ian Calpin scored the go-ahead goal for the Bulldogs.

“We got into a safe mode,” Richards said. “ We got comfortable and they started coming back but we didn’t get back into the swing of things.”

Sicard has seen many one goal losses this year with other teams as well
and contributes the trend to the strong conference competition.

“I knew it would be a competitive game,” Whittemore said. “I’ve coached against (ULV head coach) Tim Hugar for years and they always have a good plan.”

Despite their loss, the Leopards are confident going into the SCIAC Championships, which take place Nov. 11-13 at Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont.

“They played hard all season and they’ve done really well against a lot of teams that are ranked above us,” Sicard said. “They’re playing very well together and our defense is really solid.”

ULV will battle Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the La Verne Aquatics Center.

Angie Gangi can be reached at agangi@ulv.edu.