Author: Danielle Sherman
Beginning the season with team bonding and strenuous practices, Oxy’s Men’s Water Polo Team is working hard to prepare for their first tournament. To create a sense of team unity, the 19 men, including all of last year’s seven starters, shaved their heads before the season began.
The team is already close, according to Cameron Brahmst (senior) one of the returning captains. The team is looking forward to what they hope will be their best season yet. “This year we’re going to get first,” Brahmst said.
“We’ve never had a team with this much depth,” Head Coach Larry Zubrin said. “We combine athleticism and experience with a good deal of depth and that’s a recipe for success.”
In the 2007 season, the Tigers ranked fifth in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), with a 13-12 overall mark and a 5-5 conference record. The team is taking the game seriously this year, using the pre-season to hold two practices a day. The team swam over eight miles the first day, and has been hitting the weight room three times a week.
“Right now it’s mostly about getting in shape and fundamentals-lots of passing and lots of shooting,” Brahmst said.
“College water polo has been so much harder than high school. Coming into the season I didn’t expect training to be so hard so I didn’t train over the summer,” Tai McDermott (first-year) said.
The team has some impressive returning players including Brahmst, nationally ranked at 20th in goals scored with 67, and his co-captain, Abiel Garcia (senior), who had 26 goals last season. A bevy of other seniors provide even more offensive support, led by the team’s top scorer from last season, Andrew Valdes (senior), who ranked 18th nationally with 68 goals. Other senior standouts include Sean Inoue (27 goals, 23 assists) and John Wensman (24 goals).
Underclassmen will be helping the team out as well, led by Jake Santelli (junior) and Austin Oliver (sophomore) who, according to Brahmst, has the advantage of being left-handed. The Tigers also return two goalies, Max Kelly (junior) and Blair Bergsteinsson (junior), both of whom were ranked among the top 30 keepers in the nation a season ago.
If the team manages to be in the top three in the SCIAC, they will advance to the Western Water Polo Association Championship Tournament (WWPA). The winning team of the WWPA tourney will advance to the NCAA tournament, competing for the National Championship.
The Tigers’ first test was at the Inland Empire Classic on Sept. 13 and 14, where they played a total of four games. The first day Oxy lost to University of Pacific 12-7 and then to University of Redlands, 10-5. The second day the scores were closer, with losses to Concordia University, 12-11, and to Chapman University, 8-7. Their next match will be held Saturday, Sept. 20 at Cal Lutheran University at 8:15 a.m.
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