Stephanie Amaya
Staff Writer
Men’s water polo faced the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds to open the Inland Empire Classic Tournament on Saturday in Claremont and won, 13-11.
The Leopards came out strong on offense, which played an important role to their success to compete with the Sunbirds.
“A lot of times we get measured on the end result and we started this tournament with a win, so I think it’s a pretty great start,” head coach Pat Beemer said.
Beemer noted although they had performed really well earning the win, that they are not perfect yet, but they are on their way.
“There is a lot that we can improve on, but it is always better to be imperfect and win rather than be perfect and lose,” Beemer said.
The Leopards had 33 attempted shots with 13 goals. Graduate student attacker Alam Chang-Barnuevo led with five goals and graduate student center Peter Trinh with three goals, and senior goalkeeper Eric Bates made nine saves.
“Being able to convert on our defensive switches (was key) because they like to go into a double post,” Trinh said. “Then we adjusted well enough to where we were able to shift off to properly get more steals, less exclusions which led to more offensive opportunities for us.”
The Leopards’ defense kept the Sunbirds under control throughout the game. It was a tie in both the first and second half of the match with the Leopards pumped to start the third.
“Going into halftime we rallied up the troops with the score tied up and decided to put the pieces together,” freshman attacker Nicolas Winsor said.
After halftime, the Leopards and the Sunbirds were tied 8-8 leaving the game up for grabs.
“We locked in on defense, especially in the third quarter, limiting them to only one goal,” senior goalkeeper Bates said.
The Sunbirds key players of the match were freshman utility Chris Sandino, who scored five goals; senior utility Pietro Cattano, who scored three goals, and junior guard Christian Clark, who scored two goals.
“Being one of the older players and leaders on the team, making sure that I have their back and that they have mine as well. Playing my part in putting away opportunities will help the team throughout theirs,” Trinh said.
The turning point of the game came when the Leopards gained a two point lead over the Sunbirds by the end of the third half, 11-9.
“We found specific matchups that we wanted to have some of our players match up with Fresno Pacific. I really want to focus on our defense mentality,” Beemer said. “The same mentality, the same structure, the same focus on defense because our offense will come since we have a lot of weapons there.”
Beemer highlights the improvements the Leopards have made from their scrimmages and first couple games.
“I think that we did amazing today,” Bates said. “The last couple of games I’ve seen what we could do just haven’t gotten there. Beating them this early just shows that our progress is there and we are ready to go.”
The Leopards ended the Inland Empire Classic Tournament 2-2. They lost to NCAA Division 1 contenders No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, 25-9, and No. 20 Cal Baptist, 25-6. La Verne beat Ottawa (Az) to close out the tournament, 15-10.
The Leopards return to the pool at 8 a.m. Saturday against Concordia to open the Rare Air Tournament in Colorado Springs.
Stephanie Amaya can be reached at stephanie.amaya@laverne.edu.
Stephanie Amaya is a senior communications major with a concentration in public relations and a staff photographer for the Campus Times. She has previously served as a staff writer.
Liberty Belle is a senior photography major and marketing minor. She is also the photography editor of the Campus Times. She has previously served as photography editor of La Verne Magazine and a staff photographer for both publications.
