Water polo sets tradition, winning ways
Campus Times
December 4, 1998
Junior Shannon Kay gives his all against Loyola Marymount. Kay's water
polo experience can be traced back to earlier days at Chaffey College.
A glimmer of athletic tradition has graced the University of La Verne
this year. That glimmer is the first year men's water polo team.
Not only has it dominated the conference during the regular season with
a 4-1 record, but it has shown both character and class despite being undermanned.
Three weekends ago the water polo team entered the SCIAC Championships,
at Claremont, as the No. 1 seed.
Although it lost the championship game to the Stags, 4-3, ULV showed
the resolve of a well-mannered team.
"I feel that we have accomplished a lot this year," said head
coach Tim Hugar. "Obviously we wanted to win the conference, but I
think that we can be proud of what we've done and I'm proud of the guys."
La Verne managed to survive the other SCIAC game against Redlands, 7-6
and finished their SCIAC record at an impressive 5-2 mark.
"It was an absolute battle that game," said Hugar. "It
was a tough, tough physical game."
During the SCIAC championships, La Verne played three starters who were
sick, including freshman Jace Crispin, and juniors Corey Rodriguez and Ryan
Penrod.
It is quite obvious that this meant that the Leopards' chances were
heavily stifled.
"It's hard to play 100 percent when you are sick,"said Crispin.
The Leopards earned five All-SCIAC honors, which is a testament to team
quality.
Those players included juniors Kenny Clements and Shannon Kay (First
Team), Caleb Diaz and Mike Miles (Second Team), and sophomore Ian Gratz
(honorable mention).
One weekend later, after the team had ditched it's ailments, La Verne
proceeded to the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championships, which
serves as regional playoffs to the NCAA Final Four.
The Leopards, ranked 12th in the WWPA championships, proved that it
was no fluke when it stole the sixth overall spot by tournament's end.
What is more, Clements and Kay both received second team all WWPA honors.
It was not easy going for ULV, since it lost two of the three games
it played.
On top of the fact that all the teams La Verne played were Division
I schools, it challenged two of the top three (finishing) programs and split
those games.
Day one of that weekend started on a Friday, and the Leopards were scheduled
to play Air Force (then ranked 12th in the nation). The Leopards lost 14-8,
even though they dominated most of the game.
"Most of the coaches and players said that we outplayed them the
whole game, we just didn't execute more opportunities like they did,"
said Clements.
The opportunities Clements is referring to are the nine six-on-five's
or "man-ups" ULV had and only scored once on.
The man up situation, like hockey's power play, is when the other team
fouls and must sit the responsible player out for 20 seconds.
La Verne's inability to score on those opportunities allowed Air Force
to score.
"They threw a defense at us and it was confusing and we just didn't
execute," said Clements.
This did not stop Kay from raping the Air Force defense for six of the
eight Leopard's goal points.
A day later La Verne looked to rebound from their upsetting loss to
Air Force, and did in dramatic fashion by edging Santa Clara by one point
in overtime, 11-10.
The game came down to the last minute and a half, when La Verne was
down by three points.
The first score of the waning regulation moments came when Kay shot
a four meter after Hugar called a time out. Then, with only 15 seconds left
and down by two points, Clements threw a pass to Kay, who scored a two-pointer
on an off-speed shot.
"I don't think we ever thought we could lose that game, even when
we were down by three goals with a minute and a half left," said Clements.
After narrowly escaping a regulation loss, the Leopards handily defeated
Santa Clara in overtime. Once again, Kay scored at least half of ULV's goals
(five), while teammates Clements (one goal) and Diaz (four goals) rounded
out the rest of the attacking points.
On Sunday, ULV played another close one against Loyola Marymount, but
ended-up losing the overtime nail-biter, 11-10.
La Verne jumped out on Loyola Marymount 3-1 in the first quarter, but
could not score more than two goals the rest of regulation.
Overtime was imminent, and Loyola Marymount jumped on ULV 4-1 in the
first overtime as ULV had in the first quarter of regulation. La Verne came
back in the second overtime, but fell short by a single point to force another
overtime.
Finishing the season as one of the top WWPA teams is outstanding, and
the Leopards hope to improve on that next season.
"Next season we are going to dominate, because we are going to
get everybody back, plus we set some tradition," said Clements.
The Leopards are thankful for the support they received from the fans
and training staff, especially since they are a first year program.
"I would like to thank everybody for excepting a brand new water
polo program," said Clements. "All the support we got from the
athletes, students, and faculty was awesome. I would also like to thank
all the trainers."
Now that this year's water polo program has set a winning tradition
at La Verne, it expects greatness for years to come.
Head coach Tim Hugar, who coached water polo at Slippery Rock and Princeton,
calls a time out during the second quarter of the game against Santa Clara.
The Leopards' second successful attempt to score against the Loyola Marymount
Tigers came during the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter the
Leopards led 5-2.
ULV students (left to right, top row) Stephanie Rose, Nicole Williams,
Kelly Williams, (bottom row) Andrea Salcedo and Andreis Karafoti cheer,
"Go Corey!" during the last quarter of the game against Santa
Clara.
The Leopards were leading strong against the Loyola Marymount Tigers
during the first quarter, but by the second quarter the score was 5-5.
