Author: Soo Jin Kim
This past weekend, the men’s water polo team went 0-5 at their season-opening tournament hosted by the University of Redlands. The Tigers worked hard to prove themselves during the opening game in order to offset their disappointing preseason ranking.
During the offseason, the Collegiate Water Polo Association ranked the Tigers 10th in Division III, after the team ended last season in ninth place. Despite their struggles, however, the team is still hopeful about the upcoming season.
Head Coach Larry Zubrin is using the Tigers’ lowered ranking as a way to push players to work even harder. “[The ranking] was pretty disappointing, to be honest,” said Zubrin. “We finished last year ranked ninth … so I was a bit surprised to see us drop to 10th [place] in this year’s preseason poll. The team and I are using this as a motivator to show we’re a stronger program this year.”
New team members are a major source of excitement this season. Following a successful recruitment period, the Tigers are back with a larger team after losing two seniors last year. While most college teams usually have 20-25 players, Oxy had only 11 members, who were more prone to fatigue than their league counterparts because they had to stay in the game for longer periods of time. “We have had issues [last season] performing well in the second half of the game due to our lack of depth,” team captain Greg Benz (senior) said.
While the team’s current 18-player roster strengthens their bench, the Tigers now face a lack of experience with the addition of their newer, less-experienced members.
First-years and sophomores account for 13 of the 18 players. This means that the greater part of the team will be inexperienced and will require additional time to adjust to the college-level sport. “College water polo is played in a bigger pool than high school, and the pace of the game is much quicker,” Zubrin said. “The only way to strengthen this area [of weakness] is to go out and play games.”
Even though the team is small and the newer players are still getting used to the challenge, the Tigers hope to balance this weakness with their speed, which they consider one of their greatest potential attributes. “Once [the team] learns to translate [their speed] into the college level of play, it will be a great strength for us,” Zubrin said.
Despite Zubrin’s high expectations, the players remain realistic about their goals for this year’s season. “As a team, we want to shoot for the stars and [be] in the National Championships,” Kevin Coleman (first-year) said, “but a goal that could be more easily accessible would be qualifying for the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) in Santa Clara after placing well in the SCIAC championships.” If the Tigers finish in the top 10 in the WWPA, they will also qualify for the NCAA Division I post-season.
After a disappointing pre-season ranking, the men’s water polo team is motivated to perform their best in upcoming tournaments, readying themselves for the start of the SCIAC games. On Oct. 16, SCIAC play opens against Whittier, currently ranked third.
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