La Verne upsets Davis in Santa Cruz tournament
Campus Times
October 9, 1998
Do not tell the University of La Verne men's water polo team, which
is in its inaugural season, that it is not supposed to be able to beat nationally
ranked teams, as it did in one of three games in Saturday's Slugfest tournament
at UC Santa Cruz.
"It's kind of fun being a little bit of a giant killer as a first
year program, by going in there and surprising people with our little team,"
said first-year head coach Tim Hugar.
The Leopards, who have only nine players in a game that requires seven
to play, handily beat 19th ranked (in the nation) UC Davis by a score of
14-6 as well as Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(SCIAC) rival Whittier (12-8).
"We played well and we played as a team, especially for the small
numbers we have," said freshman holeman Jace Crispin.
The Leopards had two weeks without competition coming into the tournament,
but Hugar believes that the time off helped better develop the team.
"Sometimes I think it's good to take some time off [from competition]
anyways, because you just get back to working hard and don't have to worry
about resting for games," said Hugar.
La Verne did lose one of its three games, but it came in a 9-6 shootout
with 15th ranked UC Santa Cruz (the host of the non-trophy tournament).
"Obviously we are playing well, it's just that we have less depth
than most teams, and we are probably able to work on less things [game situations]
in workouts than other teams, because we can't scrimmage a full six on six,"
said Hugar.
In the UC Davis game, the Leopards jumped out to an eight goal first
half and stunned the helpless Aggies. La Verne would not look back on its
way to an impressive victory.
As for the Whittier and UC Santa Cruz match-ups, La Verne struggled
a bit more. But the team found it could manage to have every starter, except
for team captain junior goalie Mike Miles, score between the two games.
The team consists of six juniors and three freshmen, which is an attribute
that brings a sense of experience to a group of players that have never
played water polo together.
In fact a feeling of unity has already started to form among the players,
because there are no pre-conceived notions about the way each player plays
and acts.
"Everyone coming in new made the circumstances easier to deal with,
and no one has their set ways," said Crispin. "In the pool we
play hard core water polo, and outside [of the pool] we are family."
Hugar previously coached at Princeton for six years, UC Santa Barbara
for one year and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania for two years
before coming to La Verne. He believes the team's strengths are its character,
hard play and a will to win.
Besides its obvious deficiency in depth, ULV lacks in its half-court
offense and defense, as well as its transition game, Hugar said.
To compensate for their depth problem, the Leopards do a lot of conditioning.
The team must pay attention to the physical strain that intense training
will place on each player, otherwise the burn-out factor may play a major
role this season.
La Verne's next match will take place at home in the Claremont Convergence
tournament next Friday and Saturday, all day.
