Around this time last season, the Pomona-Pitzer Men’s Water Polo team (11-15 overall, 2-4 SCIAC) accomplished something it hadn’t in eighteen years.

"Not so much myself, but several of the guys had to endure a winless streak against a bitter rival," said David Ratner ’01. "When we finally beat CMS last year, those eighteen years of suffering were erased from our collective Sagehen memories."

In fact, it was Ratner who tallied what eventually went on to be the go-ahead score, a hissing two-pointer from just outside of the green seven-meter line.

Unfortunately for the Hens, that triumphant feeling had to end sometime.

Last Wednesday, November 3, was a different story for the Sagehens. Although the Stags have been noticeably weaker this year with the graduation of most of their starting lineup, they managed to defeat the Hens in convincing fashion, 8-2.

"We were having trouble getting our shots off," said Dusty Baker ’01, "and because of that we couldn’t put any points up on the board."

To say the least, this was a frustrating game for Pomona-Pitzer. The Sagehens, who have been plagued in recent weeks by a tendency to play down to their competition, did not appear to be running on all of their cylinders.

"This should have been a relatively easy [Sagehens-Stags game] for us, considering how hard it’s been for us in the past," said Ratner. "We didn’t play nearly as well as we should have; it was really disappointing that we weren’t able to come back from the early deficit."

The fact that CMS was able to hold Marc Cavagnolo ’01, Ryan Williams ’01, and company to two goals speaks for just how stifling the Stags defense was, not to mention the solid contributions from their goalie. CMS employed a rotating, flailing-arms zone defense, designed to force the Hens to shoot from the outside. The crucial addition of the flailing arms to this otherwise commonplace zone made the longer shots all the more difficult for the Sagehens, who often struggled to fire off undeflected shots.

In addition to their gauntlet of Gumpish uncoordination, the Stags also benefit from an overall lack of morality. Not morality in the Nietzschian sense of the word, smart-ass Pomona nerd. I mean that they don’t have a problem with, say, cheap-shotting the men guarding them.

"The last two years our team captains’ have come away from our games at Axelrood with some kind of injury," said Williams. "Last year, Kirby [Kim ‘99] had to miss the last part of the season [due to a broken nose incurred during that CMS game]. Now, this year Anuj [Datta ‘00] is going to have to miss the rest of his final season because one of those [Stags] decided to bitch-hit him in the face."

Last Friday, the Hens went up against a team that was good due to more conventional ways. The Whittier Poets, clearly the best team in SCIAC this season, came by Haldeman Pool looking to put on a water-polo clinic for the locals. To the Poets surprise, the Sagehens once again played to the level of their competition.

"Against Whittier we couldn’t come out as flat as we did against CMS," said Baker. "They beat us pretty badly the last time we played them, so we wanted to remind them that we can play some, too."

The Hens did anything but roll over in this one. Midway through the fourth period, the score was tied, 7-7. After the Poets drew a kick-out, they were able to eke out a two-point body-bar goal off of Cody Bitterlich PI ’00, giving them a 9-7 lead.

Whittier went on to win, 11-7. Apparently the Poets were worn out by their game with the Sagehens; in their game the following morning, Whittier was trounced by Redlands University, by far an inferior team.

On Sunday morning, the Hens faced the Loyola-Marymount University Lions. The lions are a NCAA Division-I water polo team, so a Sagehen defeat, sadly, was to be expected. Pomona-Pitzer was also missing Ratner and Chris Demento ’02. Both were out with injured shoulders. The final score was 12-4, though the score is not really that important in mismatches like that.

Later on that evening, the Hens were called back to Haldeman for another one of those death sentences/learning experiences.

Against the Air Force University Cadets, Pomona-Pitzer’s first unit had a rough go of it against Air Force’s starters. The Cadets jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first period, and were able to cruise more or less unperturbed from there. Besides a couple of late scores from Cavagnolo and Dan Hekman ’03, Air Force was able to keep the Sagehens’ offense at bay for most of the game.

The final score was 11-6. It should be noted that Air Force insists upon bringing its obnoxious band of menopausal moms and well-wishers to its road games. Just something to think about when you’re placed in an incredibly annoying situation and find yourself questioning the skies.

Tomorrow, the Hens take on La Verne University in the annual end-of-season SCIAC Tournament. After a season in which high expectations were not met, the Sagehens now find themselves virtually out of the running for a berth in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Tournament. Still, an impressive showing in this weekend’s tournament would clear up some of the gray patches of a hazy season.

Said Baker, "we just want to go out with some big wins."