SportsWater Polo

Clock malfunctions upset flow; Leopards fall to Harvard, 7-5

University of La Verne freshman Kaitlin Vick looks for a teammate to pass the ball to in the final period of the game Saturday against Harvard. La Verne fell short in the end, losing 7-5. Vick has scored six goals this season. The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games will begin Saturday. / photo by Emmah Obradovich
University of La Verne freshman Kaitlin Vick looks for a teammate to pass the ball to in the final period of the game Saturday against Harvard. La Verne fell short in the end, losing 7-5. Vick has scored six goals this season. The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games will begin Saturday. / photo by Emmah Obradovich

Angie Gangi
Staff Writer

The timing was off during the University of La Verne women’s water polo game Saturday at Los Flores Park.

Technical problems with the time clock and scoreboard interrupted the game several times as ULV lost to Harvard, 7-5.

The scoreboard was not working and portable shot clocks were placed near each team’s goal post at the beginning of the game.

Harvard’s Sarah Kennifer made the first goal of the game and started the momentum that led the way to Harvard’s win.

“I don’t think the clock problems affected the players, but it just kind of stopped the flow of the game a little bit,” ULV head coach Tim Hugar said.

With a score of 2-0, La Verne seemed to gain some of its own momentum with two back-to-back goals.

Sophomore Jen Aguilar made a smooth pass to senior Kristin McKown in one of La Verne’s highlight plays of the game.

As ULV’s lead scorer with two goals, McKown was able to attempt another goal and with the help of sophomore Laura Larsen the ball was tapped into the net and the teams were within one point of each other.

The Leopards tied it up 3-3 after senior Renee Moyer scored in the third period, but Harvard would outscore La Verne 4-2 in the final 10 minutes.

“It’s just a little frustrating not being able to convert goals in certain situations,” said Aguilar, ULV utility. “Our team is doing a lot better and we’re really coming together but we just need to go through the whole game working together.”

With only 1:32 left in the game, each team was sent to its side of the pool while the referees and scorekeepers tried to fix the broken portable score clocks for about five minutes.

Without the clocks the teams did not know how much time was left on the goal shot clock so a handheld stopwatch was used and the time was shouted out to the players.

“Clock problems happen,” Harvard’s head coach Erik Farrar said. “What can one do? Water polo is a game that requires constant adaptation so it didn’t really affect us and I don’t really think it had any impact on the La Verne team.”

Freshman Lindsay Jones, ULV’s goalie, saved four powerful shots from the Harvard offense and helped keep La Verne from a greater loss. For now, the team is focused on future games.

“I think the conference is going to be really competitive,” coach Hugar said. “All the teams are pretty close so there’s going to be a lot of close games throughout the rest of the season, so it’s going to be pretty fun and competitive.”

La Verne will play its first SCIAC game against Whittier at 11 a.m. tomorrow at home.

Angie Gangi can be reached at agangi@ulv.edu.

Angie Gangi
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Emmah Obradovich
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