Occidental’s men’s water polo flew to Boston and played in four non-conference games from Oct.14 – 15 in the team’s first competition on the East Coast. They played against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Connecticut College, Salem University and Brown University. Tate Miller (junior) noted the importance that this trip provided for the team.
“We grew a lot as a team in those four games, which is really important because we’re just starting our conference play,” Miller said. “To be able to have four non-conference games to really hone in on our identity, work on our defensive scheme, our offensive plan, build chemistry [and] camaraderie, that was really definitely a highlight.”
Travis Hughes (sophomore) said the trip strengthened the bond between upperclassmen and underclassmen, which was a new challenge coming into the season.
According to Christian Guillaume (senior) there are numerous challenges around working with a younger team.
“Last year we had like eight or nine more seniors, my class and above were with us, so we lost a lot of players,” Guillaume said. “Since we’re a young team, there’s moments where we’re really good, firing on all cylinders, but then there’s moments where we’re really impatient on the perimeter and we might jam something that isn’t there, rush too early in the possession and not be patient enough.”
Guillaume said that with time, the younger players will only improve and they add a fresh dynamic to the team.
“There’s a lot of new faces and it’s just having good team dinners after practice, having them come over to our house that we live at and watch films or TV, just bonding outside of the pool in addition to encouraging them in games,” Guillaume said.
Hughes said that coming into the games, players were ready to go up against some of the best teams on the East Coast. While the team lost 12-15 to MIT, they beat Connecticut College 17-8.
“We got to get better at staying focused and finishing out on defense,” Guillaume said. “[The] first game against MIT was a [game] that we knew was going to be pretty tough but was still good competition.”
According to Guillaume, even though the team had an idea of what to expect from their opponents, Salem University forced them to play a different style of water polo the team was not used to. Out of the four games played, every school played in a similar formation, except Salem, who played with an m-drop formation.
“What made the Salem defense difficult was that they had an extra defender back on our center, and their other defenders were splitting between our outside shooters rather than guarding them one on one,” Guillaume said. “Our passing wasn’t great that game, and their splitters were able to deflect or intercept the ball from us multiple times.”
Guillaume said playing against Brown was a more comfortable atmosphere, and although the game resulted in a loss, the team did a better job when it came to playing their only Division I opponent.
Hughes said the team gives a lot of credit to their hardworking coaching staff for this past weekend’s successes.
“They’re always a calming presence and very knowledgeable,” Hughes said.
According to Miller and Guillaume, the coaching staff works hard on gathering thorough reports on their opponents and is able to pinpoint specific areas of improvement.
“They’re one of the biggest reasons we’ve had consistent growth throughout the season,” Guillaume said. “They give us good talks before and after games about what went well, what could go better, what to expect from opponents [and] what we need to do to make changes in practice to address problems.”
According to Miller, there were some notable improvements after the team’s challenging four games in Boston.
“Our passing is a lot crisper, our offense is flowing smoothly, we’re communicating more on defense [and] running the zones we should be running,” Miller said.
According to Miller, the next steps for the men’s water polo team is the same as any other team.
“We want to win conference and we want to win the Division III tournament,” Guillaume said. “What that’s going to take is finishing top four in SCIAC and we’re on the cusp of that right now.”
Contact Karen Palacios-Echeverria at palacioseche@oxy.edu
