Despite a record of one win and nine losses, Men’s Water Polo coach Gary Troyer is satisfied with his team’s performance: "I’m happy. We’re playing very well considering how inexperienced we are. We’ve got a lot of kids that have never played before. We lack speed, size and experience, but we’re playing hard."

Over the weekend of September 28 and 29, Pomona-Pitzer’s squad traveled to the University of California-Santa Cruz for the school’s annual "Slugfest" water polo tournament. Unfortunately, the team fell in all four games that it played at the tourney. They lost to MIT (11-5), Santa Clara (15-5), Redlands (16-4) and Air Force (15-3). Coach Troyer noted that the disproportionate scores didn’t necessarily mean that his team played badly: "These teams just have better athletes than we do," he said, "It’s hard to compete against teams with better athletes and more experience."

The story of the tournament was goalie Matt Brown ’02, who played well for the Sagehens despite being on the roster for just three days. Brown played goalie for the Sagehens last year, but decided not to play during his senior season. However, when keeper Jamie Love ’03 bowed out because of family concerns, Brown stepped in. He immediately filled out his NCAA eligibility forms and was put on the roster just three days before the team left for Santa Cruz. "Considering that Matt hadn’t played all year, he played very well for us in this tournament," said Troyer.

The team’s performance in Santa Cruz is even more impressive considering that two of its best players were injured for much of the tournament. Ben Speicher ’03, was injured in the game against Santa Clara and was unable to compete in the final two matches. Eric Kort ’04 was ill for the entire tournament and competed only sparingly for the Sagehens. Speicher has proven himself to be Pomona-Pitzer’s best player. He is their leading scorer to this point in the season. Kort is one of the team’s most consistent players and has provided a significant scoring punch. Furthermore, the Sagehens ate at a vegan restaurant on Thursday night and undoubtedly suffered from a lack of protein during Friday’s games.

The team’s strength is their half-court defense. Troyer noted that his team had shut down opposing squads in the half: "We’re doing well stopping teams in the half court. But we’re getting killed on the counter-attack. Other teams are just faster than we are." A counter-attack occurs immediately after a turnover, and is usually how teams score a majority of their points. It can be defended effectively if the defending team is quick enough to set up their defense before the attacking team gets an open shot. If the defending team cannot get back, a counterattack often gives an attacker an open shot on the goalie.

Captain Luke Johnson ’02 has played well this season and provided much needed leadership to an inexperienced team. Troyer noted that Johnson "played particularly well in the tournament." Freshman Andrew Shetterly has improved throughout the season and also played well.

While hopes for a SCIAC title look dim, Coach Troyer would be happy with a third of fourth place finish: "Redlands has a legitimate Top 20 Division III team. After that you have La Verne. And Whittier always has a strong and scrappy team. After that the division is a little less clear." Last season the team finished fourth, with a 4-5 SCIAC record.

"We’ve still got a few games against Cal Tech and Occidental and those are games that we should win." Troyer said, "The Claremont game will probably be our biggest. That could be the one that makes or break this season."