This past weekend, the Pomona-Pitzer men’s water polo team had a chance to show their good sportsmanship, teamwork, and strong knowledge of the game. But, primarily, they wanted revenge against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Saturday, November 10, the Stags visited the Sagehens at Haldeman pool, where P-P hosted the SCIAC playoff tournament. The first-round match-up provided an early surprise in the tournament, as P-P hung close with CMS. A week before, on November 3, Pomona-Pitzer traveled across campus to take of the Stags. Despite a strong offensive effort from Ben Speicher ’03, the Sagehens lost 16-5, adding to the team’s on-going frustration with their 5-20 record.

In the final minute of the game, CMS scored its sixth goal, to go up by two. Though Luke Johnson ’02 added a fifth goal for P-P, CMS’s sixth goal proved to be the decider, and the team then held on to the ball for the 6-5 win. P-P had several chances, but a strong effort by the CMS goalie and two shots off the post in the second half got in the way. Nonetheless, wins over Caltech (14-6) and Occidental (5-4) in the consolation rounds earned the Sagehens a fifth place finish in the tournament.

"We put a lot of emphasis on [the November 3 CMS] game," said Speicher. "Winning it could have salvaged our otherwise disappointing season. In retrospect, though, we may have been too focused on that game, which caused us to play too tight."

The first CMS loss, which was played at CMS, completed P-P’s regular season, but the team quickly shifted its focus to last weekend’s SCIAC tournament. Fittingly, the Sagehens’ first game provided a rematch against its arch rival.

The players knew their season was less-than-satisfying, but with a last chance against the Stags, P-P came prepared to win.

"Our focus was to get a victory against Claremont," said Coach Gary Troyer. "That would have made our season."

"The team just wanted to show CMS that we could play with them and earn some respect," added Speicher. "We know a lot of guys on their team, so it was important for us to show them that we could hold our own against them."

On their way to a loss, the Sagehens learned from their mistakes and played a competitive game against the Stags. Speicher scored four goals, though, at times, he took shots when he should have passed; it appeared as though he might not have had faith in his teammates’ scoring abilities. However, the Sagehens’ greatest improvement came on defense. Jamie Love ’03 worked hard in the goal to get 11 saves for Pomona-Pitzer.

"[In this game] we still didn’t have much in the way of offensive weapons," said Coach Troyer. "But our defensive plan worked much better than in the previous game."

Despite the loss, the players and coaches both felt satisfied with the performance against Claremont.

"In my opinion it was the best game we played all year," said Speicher. "While we were disappointed with the loss, I think everyone realized that we put in a good effort."

"Even to lose by one was a good boost for us," added Troyer. "Last week’s game was so hard on us that we really wanted to put up a fight."

The Sagehens’ loss to CMS in the tournament’s first-round didn’t foretell the remainder of their games that weekend. In matches against Caltech, with a 3-11 record, and Occidental, 4-19, the team was not nearly challenged to the same extent.

Sunday began with a strong win over the Beavers by the score of 14-6. In the game, Andrew Shetterly ’05 led the team with three goals, while Speicher and Eric Kort ‘04 both had two apiece. Goalkeeper Eric Forburger ’04 had seven saves against Caltech.

Later in that day, the team played Occidental and won 5-4 in overtime. Ben Komer ’02 had two goals, while Love made seven saves to finish the tournament, as well as the season.

However, this final game left something to be desired. The team expected to win by a considerable margin, but only with an overtime goal by Tom Krebs ’04 did Pomona-Pitzer pull out a victory.

"We should have beaten the Occidental team easily," said Speicher. "The CMS game was the high point of the tournament, since we couldn’t match that intensity in the next two games."

"Caltech and Occidental don’t have any offensive threats at all," added Coach Troyer. "Our performance against CMS was much stronger than against either of the other teams."

Throughout the tournament, Speicher took the role as the team’s star. He scored almost all of the goals in the game with the Stags, and played solidly all around.

"Ben is the only real threat we have on offense," said Coach Troyer. "He scored four of our five goals and played some great defense at two meters."

With this series of games, the Sagehens conclude their season with higher hopes for next year. Offering solid performances throughout their careers at P-P were seniors Johnson, Komer, Daniel Tan, Ryan Meckel-Parke, and Chris DeMento.

As for off-season plans, Coach Troyer plans to "recruit like mad and try to raise the level of play for next season." Two top high school players from the Long Beach and San Diego areas are applying early to Pomona, and their grades and test scores are strong enough that they are expected to be accepted. As for the returning players, stars Speicher, Kort, Love, and Shetterly will be among a host of young players looking to improve on this rebuilding season and take the team to the top of the SCIAC.