Water Polo Loses SCIAC Championships, Faces Tough Opponents in Western Tourney
By Ezekiel Pfeifer
Sports Associate

The Pomona-Pitzer men’s water polo team finished an impressive season two weekends ago, losing to Redlands 12-2 and ending their run in the 2003 NCAA Men's Western Water Polo Tournament. This loss came after winning two games in the SCIAC tournament to place second in the conference, putting the team in position for a spot in the Western Tournament. The Sagehens were the eighth seed out of eight total teams in the Western Tournament and, after three consecutive losses to tough teams from all over the American west, they finished the 2003 season.

The Hens began their spectacular run to the Western Tournament with a 10-8 win over Occidental. P-P started out this match slowly, trailing for part of the game but eventually muscled their way back. Tim Brown ’07 scored five goals in the win, with Bryan Price and Glenn Anderson contributing goals as well. The Sagehens ended up dominating the game and pulled out the win to reach the semifinals of the SCIAC tournament to face La Verve.

The game against La Verne was far more dramatic, requiring a double overtime period to determine a winner. La Verne led for the entire game until the fourth quarter, when P-P tied the score at 7-7. The first overtime period ensued, but was not enough time to determine a winner. A second overtime was needed, and finally, the Sagehens scored the game-winning goal, ending with the final score 8-7. This win put the Hens in the SCIAC championship game against Redlands.

Redlands presented far more of a problem for the Hens. The Sagehens trailed Redlands from the start of the game, going down 1-6 at halftime and finally dropping to 4-13. Nevertheless, getting to this game guaranteed P-P at least a second place finish in the SCIAC, which put them in a position to make an appearance in the Western Water Polo Tournament.

P-P did make an appearance in the Western Tournament, getting seeded eighth out of eight teams, due to their conference and overall records. This meant that the Hens’ first opponent in the Tournament would be the top team according to seed, which was the Western region’s water polo powerhouse, University of California at San Diego. UCSD dominated the game from the outset, scoring four goals in the first quarter. UCSD shut out the Sagehens, and the game ended with a final score of 0-20.

Next up in the Western Tourney for the Hens was BYU-Hawaii. This game contrasted sharply with the game before against UCSD, since P-P played extremely well and came very close to winning the game. The score was tied after both the first and second quarters, at 2-2 and 7-7 respectively. BYU-Hawaii finally took the lead in the third quarter, but only by 1, making it 8-9. The Hens tied the score in the fourth quarter, but, at the last minute, BYU-Hawaii scored a goal and took the win, 9-10. Brown contributed another five goals in the effort, but his and his teammates’ performances were not quite enough to take the win.

In the final game of the Western Tournament for P-P, the Sagehens once again faced SCIAC rival Redlands. The Hens were no more successful against Redlands in this game than they were in the SCIAC championship game; they trailed the entire game and lost 2-12. The tournament did not end on a completely bad note for the Hens, however, since Brown was an Honorable Mention to the All-WWPA team that was selected at the finish of the tournament.

The P-P men’s water polo team had a remarkable season overall, even with the final four losses. The Sagehens finished with a 7-3 record in the SCIAC and a 14-20 record overall, a marked improvement over last year’s 5-4 SCIAC record and 7-21 overall record. In addition, this was the Hens’ first appearance in the Men’s Western Water Polo Tournament in over 20 years, showing the huge strides P-P has made in making their water polo team competitive.

Look for the Sagehens to improve even more next season as they try to be more successful in the SCIAC and the Western Water Polo Tournament.