SportsWater Polo

Leopards prep for SCIAC tourney with win over Caltech

Without a clear shot at the goal, senior Brianna DiCarlo looks to pass to an open teammate against Caltech at Las Flores Park on Saturday. The Leopards drowned the Beavers, 12-5. / photo by Katherine Careaga
Without a clear shot at the goal, senior Brianna DiCarlo looks to pass to an open teammate against Caltech at Las Flores Park on Saturday. The Leopards drowned the Beavers, 12-5. / photo by Katherine Careaga

Ingrid Rodriguez
Staff Writer

The Leopards beat the Caltech Beavers in their final regular season match with a score of 12-5 Saturday at Las Flores Park.

Before the game began, Brittany Orduno, Brianna DiCarlo, Ashley Forsberg and Erika Vargas were honored for senior day. This was their last home game.

“It was a good last home game,” utility Forsberg said. “Everyone had fun; it was a really great day.”

Forsberg is the only senior who has been in water polo since her freshman year.

The Leopards started off the game strong.

In the first three minutes of the first quarter, a goal was made by two meter Vargas and another goal was made by Forsberg.

Within the last two minutes, sophomore driver Bethie Ross made two more goals.

The Leopards led with a score of 4-0 by the end of the first quarter.

“It was good to see the girls just have fun,” head coach Alex La said.

In the second quarter, both the Leopards and the Beavers scored two goals, putting the Leopards up 6-2 at the half.

“We just had fun,” junior goalie Lauren Shepard said. “We enjoyed ourselves, it was just relaxing.”

“(We did) a lot better than the past couple of games,” captain Ross said.

The Leopards suffered two losses last week against Southern California Intercolleg­iate Athletic Conference foes Occidental and Redlands, but La Verne did not let Caltech take this game away from them.

“We took a couple more chances than we normally would,” Ross said.

In the third quarter, the Beavers continued with two goals while the Leopards scored three more goals.

This left the score at 9-2.

“The girls played a really good game. We tried really hard and it shows,” sophomore goalie Shane Burgess said.

Both ULV and Caltech made three goals in the last quarter of the game, bringing the final score to 12-5.

The Leopards lost to Cal State Northridge, 22-7, and beat Cal State San Bernardino 12-11 Sunday.

The Leopards are now 2-5 in SCIAC and 10-20 overall.

“I expect a lot of success for the rest of the year and next year,” Burgess said.

“Looking back at the last four years, (water polo has) affected all parts of (my) life, not just in the pool,” Forsberg said.

The team will compete in the SCIAC Championship from April 27 to April 29 in Whittier. The Leopards currently hold sixth place in SCIAC.

Ingrid Rodriguez can be reached at ingrid.rodriguez@laverne.edu.

Ingrid Rodriguez, Staff Writer
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