Water polo ranked No. 6 in national poll
Campus Times
March 19, 1999
This week, the La Verne women's water polo team moved into the U.S.A.
Water Polo Division III top ten coaches' poll. The Leopards now hold the
No. 6 position, directly behind Pomona-Pitzer.
This is the first time La Verne has been in the top 10 in its inaugural
season.
The move into the national rankings came after the Leopards knocked
off Chapman (then ranked No. 7), 20-4, earlier this month and powerhouse
Pomona Pitzer 8-7 in overtime at the Claremont Tournament last weekend.
With a roster made up of ten freshmen out of twelve players, La Verne
is on its way to being one of the most respected programs around.
Saturday and Sunday at the Claremont Tournament, La Verne improved its
record to 4-6, (impressive considering its predominately Division I schedule
so far) by beating Cal State Hayward, Santa Clara and Pomona-Pitzer and
losing to UC Santa Cruz.
La Verne faced UC Santa Cruz, who is ranked No. 2 nationally in Division
III, for its first game of the Claremont Tournament last weekend.
Santa Cruz boasted a much older team with more collegiate playing experience,
compared to the La Verne roster that features two juniors and ten freshmen.
La Verne fell to the Banana Slugs, 10-0.
Junior Liz Rodarte attributed the loss to the poor pre-game warm up.
"A lot of it had to do with mental focus before the game."
Head coach Tim Hugar said the game was not totally lost in the warm-up,
however.
"We forgot a lot of things we worked on during the week at practice,"
said Hugar. "We weren't making very good switches and helping each
other on defense very much."
Despite the lack of strong team defense, freshman goalie Maria DeSantis
blocked countless Santa Cruz shots and, on a few occasions, took matters
into her own hands and stole the ball away from would be shooters by herself.
"Maria had a good game. She definitely kept the game closer than
it could have been," said Hugar.
La Verne adjusted to Santa Cruz's offensive barrage and rendered it
scoreless in the fourth quarter. The timing proved to be too late and Santa
Cruz cruised to an easy victory.
"We aren't as concerned with wins and losses right now in this
stage of our program as we are with executing the things we work on in practice,"
said Hugar.
"I don't even care that they were ranked No. 2 in the nation. I
just want to see us getting better," he said.
And get better they did. They got better right in front of everyone's
eyes. La Verne continued on to its first winning streak ever by beating
all other teams they faced in the tournament.
The first win of that streak came less than three hours later when the
Leopards finished off Cal State Hayward in a comeback 13-8 victory.
La Verne made up for its lack of team defense in the first game and
turned steals into goals, something Hugar considers extremely important.
"We don't rely on one or two people to do it. Our team defense
is what scores goals for us," he said. "A lot of our goals came
from our defensive play."
On Sunday, La Verne entered into what could prove to be the biggest
win in the team's short but exciting history.
In a game that could have gone either way, the Leopards climbed out
of the pool victorious over Pomona-Pitzer. The game went into sudden death
overtime and ended 8-7.
"They're a traditional water polo powerhouse in Division III. They've
had a good team for 15 or 20 years," said Hugar.
"That was a statement to everyone ... to be able to knock off
a traditional powerhouse," he said.
La Verne then finished off the tournament on the right note with a win
over Santa Clara. Ironically, the Leopards finished ninth in the tournament,
despite its 3-1 record.
Freshman Andrea Griffith, one of La Verne's offensive weapons, has a
plan for the young team. "I think we're just going to take it game
by game."
