Justin Ries
Staff Writer
The men’s water polo team dropped a conference matchup on the road against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 17-12, on Wednesday evening at Haldeman Pool.
La Verne came into the game with an overall record of 7-14 and a 2-3 record in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. Pomona-Pitzer came into the game with a record of 10-9 and a 4-1 record in SCIAC.
“One of the things we talked about is really being patient in our offense and finding the right shot at the right time, and I think in the first half we did extremely well there,” head coach Pat Beemer said.
“I think it was just our mentality switch, especially coming into this week, instead of hoping we play good or hoping for the best outcome for us. I think all of us now are with the same mindset of coming out to compete to win,” graduate student attacker Peter Trinh said.
In the first period, Pomona-Pitzer jumped to an early lead over La Verne.
La Verne responded with a goal by sophomore attacker Nicolo Burno and then a penalty shot by Trinh to make the score 2-1 La Verne.
Pomona-Pitzer tied up the game at 2-2, then Trinh responded with another goal for La Verne, making the score 3-2. Twenty seconds after La Verne took the lead, Pomona-Pitzer responded by tying up the game once more at 3-3.
In the second period, Pomona-Pitzer scored first off an exclusion by La Verne.
Graduate student attacker Alam Chang-Barnuevo got the scoring going again for La Verne in the second period off a good defensive stand.
“It felt positive. I think we were on a good run feeding off each other both offensively and defensively,” Chang-Barnuevo said.
Sophomore attacker Jordan Baker would help La Verne take the lead by getting three goals in a row all on the left side. After Baker’s first goal, Pomona-Pitzer would respond with a goal of its own.
Baker’s three goals would put La Verne up by one at half-time.
“When I had those three back-to-back-to-back it felt really good and I think it was able to help me through the rest of the game,” Baker said.
Going into the third period La Verne led 7-6 and looked to keep the momentum.
Trinh answered with an exclusion goal after Pomona-Pitzer scored to put La Verne back on top by one. After Trinh scored, Pomoma would get two more goals to take the lead.
Before the quarter ended La Verne countered with three more goals, while Pomona-Pitzer scored three goals as well. The third period ended with a score of 12-11 Pomona-Pitzer.
In the fourth period, it was all Sagehens. Pomona-Pitzer was able to capitalize on La Verne’s mistakes on the defensive side.
Freshman center Esteban Rivera scored in the last minute from the right side but it was too late for La Verne. Pomona-Pitzer won, 17-12.
“We went away from what was successful and played a little rushed and panicked which led to a four-goal stretch against which is tough to come back from,” Beemer said.
With this loss, La Verne’s record falls to 7-15 overall and 2-4 in conference play. They look to bounce back against Cal Lutheran at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the La Verne Aquatic Center.
Justin Ries can be reached at justin.ries@laverne.edu.
Justin Ries is a junior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism, and is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
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.
