Two weekends ago, the Pomona-Pitzer Men’s Water Polo team took part in the Lancer Invitational I Tournament. The tournament is split into two different sections, one of which took place last Friday and the other scheduled for the middle of October. At the Invitational, Pomona-Pitzer played Chapman University and Riverside Community College in back-to-back games at the California Baptist University in Riverside, California.

Unlike the previous weekend’s Inland Empire Inivitational Tournament, Pomona-Pitzer couldn’t scrape together a victory, losing to both Chapman and Riverside in closely contested matches.

Against Chapman, P-P scored early with a goal by Bryan Price ’06 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, however, Chapman put in 4 goals to P-P’s lone score by Ben Cooper ’07. Pomona-Pitzer would go on to score another goal in the third quarter by Glenn Anderson ’06 but neither team scored in the fourth, leaving the score at 4-3, with Chapman ahead.

Pomona-Pitzer’s leading scorer, Tim Brown ’07, was held scoreless. Sophomore goalkeeper Carlo Diy ’06 made six saves in the losing effort.

“We have had some close losses,” said head coach Jason Gall, “[but we expect] to have a chance to win every game going into the fourth quarter.”

Gall’s statement certainly held true for the close Chapman game; unfortunately, Pomona-Pitzer could not find the back of the net in the fourth quarter for the win.

“Our loss to Chapman was a close one but showed us that we can beat them,” said Brown.

In the game with Riverside, P-P remained close in the first quarter, with goals from Price, Chris Prochnow ’06, and two goals from Anderson. The score was 4-5 in favor of Riverside after one quarter, but the Sagehens got no closer. Riverside scored five unanswered goals in the second to take a commanding 10-4 lead into halftime. In the second half, Riverside continued its control of the match, allowing only one goal by Brown in the third quarter and scoring four goals. Diy played tough in the goal for the Sagehens, recording eight saves.

“The Lancer [Invitational] definitely paired us up with some tough teams that really gave us a chance to test our skills so far,” said Brown. “We definitely improved from the tournament, and we learned what areas we need to work on more.”

The team’s goals of finishing in the top two spots of the SCIAC conference and qualifying for the Western Water Polo Association tournament took a step back with the loss to Chapman, according to Gall. “We just need a little more consistency from everyone and that will raise our level of play considerably,” stated Gall.

So far, against SCIAC teams, P-P has beaten three: Cal Lutheran, University of La Verne and Cal Tech, but has also lost to Whittier and the University of Redlands.

“These games don’t count toward our SCIAC season but they give us an indication of where we are at the beginning of the year,” said Gall.

The team will look to improve in the coming years as well. The three top scorers; Anderson, Cooper and Brown, all have several more years to grow as players and gain more experience playing at the collegiate level.

“As a freshman, these tournaments have helped me develop a sense of what the Pomona-Pitzer team is all about,” said Brown. “The only way to truly grasp this sense of teamwork and style is through practice, which is exactly what these tournaments are.”

In the second part of the Lancer Invitational, Pomona-Pitzer will play Christian Brothers University from Tennessee and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, again at California Baptist University in Riverside

Last weekend, the Sagehens were in tournament action at UC Santa Cruz for the UC Santa Cruz Slugfest. The Sagehens did not come home with a victory, losing to Air Force Academy, UCSC, MIT, and the Santa Clara University. Tom Krebs ’04 said “We played well in all four games and we played UCSC especially tight, but they had a deep, deep bench that wore us down.”