Women’s water polo took to the pool last weekend for the first three games of the season. The season opener was 10am Saturday morning. Even at this early hour, the bleachers of fair Haldeman pool were packed to the breaking point. Pom-pom-waving fans cheered and anxious parents bit their lips. Even members of Pomona-Pitzer’s other aquatics programs came to show the love. The stage was set, and the P-P team proved itself up to the challenge.

The Hens came out in dominating fashion and piled up a quick 3-0 lead over opposing Cal State San Bernardino in the first period.

Emily Gold Sagehens egg-beater their way to a win over Cal State San Bernadino.

Hole-set Blair Henderson ’04 dominated the interior, scoring as well as creating opportunities for the drivers on the sides of the pool. It looked like the Hens would have an easy go of it. Having established such a quick lead, their intensity slackened. P-P opened the fourth quarter leading by only one. San Bernardino had several opportunities, but were denied when consecutive shots hit the crossbar and bounced out.

With 6:00 left on the game clock, however, Sasha Moustakas ’01 put the Hens back up by two with a lob shot over the San Bernardino goalie. On the next drive, however, a kick out penalty was called on Claire Townsend ’01, leading to a six-on-five opportunity for San Bernardino. A lob shot from the left side sailed over the goalie’s outstretched arms and looked to pull them back to within striking distance, but, in fitting culmination of the SB effort, it bounced off the top crossbar.

This was the crossbar that broke San Bernardino’s back. Tired, dominated both physically and mentally, tactically outmaneuvered, they could not prevent the Sagehens from running out the clock. The Hens chalked up another few points to cover the spread, and held on to win by the score of 7-4.

After the game, several young female fans could not contain their enthusiasm. "I love Lindsay Norcott ‘03. She’s my hero and idol!" exclaimed one especially verbose fan.

P-P swimming legends Alli Schwartzman ’01 and Ashley Eastman ’01 agreed on more reserved praise. "I thought they played a good, hard game. It’s the first game of the season, people aren’t into the rhythm of the game yet," said Schwartzman.

Men’s polo player and swimmer Marc Cavagnolo ’01 also made an appearance. "These girls are playing real solid. Real solid. It’s good to see some solid women’s polo."

In the second game, Michigan State proved a formidable adversary. After a hard fought first half, in which fatigue from the first game was clearly evident, the Hens trailed Michigan State by only one point, 4-3. The second half was a textbook display of the execution of the six-on-five advantage. A kick out penalty on Morgan Sokolow PI ’04 with 2:04 left in the third quarter led to a close call for the Hens. Michigan State’s dangerous hole set was guarded well by Norcott, but she passed it out and the Michigan State player threw a lob pass that bounced off of the Hens’ unsung hero of the game, the top crossbar. Consecutive six-on-five opportunities led to scores by P-P and Michigan State, but the Hens could not overcome the deficit, falling by a final score of 7-5.

Sunday, the women had an away game against eighth ranked Loyola Marymount. When asked about that game, one player, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "Oh man, don’t ask about that game."

At breakfast Monday morning, a portion of the team had found a secluded table in Frary Hall. They spoke candidly about water polo, the state of women’s athletics, and their performances over the weekend.

Norcott showed off her "battle scar" æ a shiner over her left eye, boasting of it much like a metaphorical red badge of courage. Other members of the team complimented her on it.

Henderson bewailed the crushing defeat against LMU. "Yeah, they were ranked eighth, but we lost by twelve! We did play pretty well against the other teams, though."

Soon, talk turned to water polo in more general terms. Much to the surprise of this reporter, women had not been able to play water polo until the late ’90s. "I couldn’t even get on a team until my freshman year of high school," commented Norcott, "and we all had to start from nothing. There are sixth and seventh grade girls who are playing polo now. They are learning to play from people who now how. It’s a lot easier to learn to pass the ball when you’re passing to someone who can catch."

This despite the fact that Norcott comes from the prestigious aquatics program at Los Gatos High School, which has produced many P-P aquatic athletes, including both Eastman and Cavagnolo. "The program just didn’t exist."

"I’m from SoCal, and we didn’t have one either. I mean the girls could play on the guys’ team, but that’s it," said Henderson.

Lucia Schmit ‘03 agreed. " The sport didn’t exist for girls. At the [Division I] level, those girls are recruited, they came from programs, they get paid. Especially on this team, though, we have some players who’ve only been playing for two weeks, some players who never had the proper training. Even the ones who had the opportunity to play still couldn’t start until high school, and they had to start from nothing. And even then many of them only picked it up sophomore, junior year."

Why had they started playing water polo in the first place, if it seemed so difficult? The reasons were diverse and unexpected. Henderson had been a soccer player before an ankle injury forced her into the pool. Schmit started polo for a similar reason. An injury in another sport required the year-round attention of a trainer. She needed a fall sport in order to go to that trainer, so she picked up water polo. For Norcott, it was the lesser of two evils. She was required to play a sport, and her only options were badminton or polo.

There was, however, one thing on which they all agreed. "It’s an addiction. I love it. I love water polo," exclaimed Norcott. The others simply nodded their agreement.