SportsWater Polo

ULV water polo drowns Chapman

Darren Richards (No. 5), driver for La Verne's water polo team, was on the offense against Jameson Burmeister of Chapman Saturday. The Leopards defeated Chapman with an 8-2 win, making this their third victory of the season. / photo by Jenna Campbell
Darren Richards (No. 5), driver for La Verne’s water polo team, was on the offense against Jameson Burmeister of Chapman Saturday. The Leopards defeated Chapman with an 8-2 win, making this their third victory of the season. / photo by Jenna Campbell

by Max Zänker
Staff Writer

With Saturday’s convincing 8-2 victory over the Chapman University Panthers, the University of La Verne men’s water polo team improved its preseason record to 3-8 and now considers itself prepared for the upcoming season.

“We improved all the little things it takes to win and are ready to go,” said team captain Jason Walters after the game at the La Verne Aquatic Center.

The Leopards concentrated on defensive work and an effective fastbreak-focused offense in the game.

They took the 1-0 lead one minute into the game, as freshman Ricardo Negron found himself one-on-one against Chapman’s goalkeeper, B.J. Ploessel, and tossed the ball into the net.

With a far-out throw from the left wing, ULV driver Owen Barrett raised the lead to 2-0 with 3:56 minutes left in the first quarter.

Barrett was also included in one of the games strongest combinations, leading to the 3-0 advantage.

He and right-wing Darren Richards used the width of the pool for several one-touch-passes before the ball made it to the hands of Negron, who marked his second goal.

With a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard, the Leopards switched to a fastbreak-oriented offense. This put ULV goalkeeper Kevin Morris into the center of attention.

The freshmen had to show all his skills on several Chapman shots. Managing this reflex by reflex, he also gave his team opportunities on fastbreaks. One of Morris’ counter-passes led to Will Hernandez’ goal for the 4-0 lead with 4:40 minutes left in the second quarter. The same combination also worked on goals by sophomore Jared Carvitto and Barrett, giving Morris three assists in only two minutes.

“We played good defense and used our opportunities from fastbreaks,” Hugar said.

Walters agreed. “We have been working really hard to limit our turnovers and now we even drew fastbreaks for ourselves,” he said.

The game lost quality in the third quarter as the Leopards shifted another gear back. This opened the pool for the visiting Panthers, but Chapman could not use the opportunity to find the way back into the game ­ or even to the ULV goal.

Their first goal resulted from Chasen Marshall’s throw through the packed La Verne defense to make the score 6-1, 3:25 minutes before the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, junior James Foley decreased the lead to 6-2 as he scored for Chapman University with three minutes in the game.

But even at that point, Hugar never had a reason to be concerned about his team’s performance.

“We came out and took control. I never had the feeling that we could lose this one,” he said.

His players showed this self-confidence in the water as they pushed up the score. For the 7-2, Walters had the ball with his back to goal and released a spin-around backhand throw, leaving Chapman’s goalkeeper Ploessel chanceless on this trick shot. With one minute left, junior Barrett scored his third goal in the game for the final score of 8-2.

Hugar said he was completely satisfied with his players’ performance.

“The team is coming together and they have been playing well against a good opponent. We are ready for the season now,” he said.

Max Zänker
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Jenna Campbell
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