Last weekend, Creighton Water Polo Club (CU Polo) wraps up their first league tournament with a rough start ending with a frustrating record of 0-4. With 8 more matches before this season is over, and 4 matches left before the league championship tournament, there were a lot of mistakes made but a lot of things improved upon that I would like to see in the future.
Our first match opened up against the Iowa State Cyclones. A former power house in the Collegiate Water Polo Association, they exposed all of our weaknesses on the defensive and offensive end. However, with only 9 players (7 in the game and 2 subs) we iron manned practically the entire tournament and did our best to hold our own against the Cyclones. But as a new and inexperienced team with little playing time together, it was to be expected that we would take a loss.
Our most significant match of the tournament of course turned out to be another rematch against the Nebraska Huskers. We had it in our minds, that we will go all out from the starting sprint. The beginning sprint put us on the right track. Although I didn't win the sprint, I was able to catch the Husker's sprinter off guard and forced the ball under therefore giving us the first possession of the tournament.
The first quarter of the match, we did exactly what we needed to do. We pressed hard on defense, communicated well, and played well enough to stop the ball from entering the 2-meter zone which allows a shooter a closer shot at the goal. Nicky Rodriguez made an amazing goal from out 7 meters and Luke Sakugawa made a goal from the 2 meter zone. The first quarter ended with nail-biting score of 2-2.
The second quarter of the match was also pretty even on both ends. Both teams drawing ejection fouls multiple times. We drew one ejection early in the quarter but failed to convert. The final score of this quarter was still tied unfortunately at 3-3.
The third quarter became a battle of attrition as both teams made fatal mistakes. However, the jays started to pull through with the first lead of the match and ended the quarter with a score of 5-4.
The fourth quarter was a battle to maintain the lead and to gain dominance. Early in the fourth we improved our lead to 6-4. However, lapses in defenses costed us 3 goals leading to being down by 6-7. However, a Hail Mary, full-court shot by our goalie allowed us to tie the game into over time at 7-7.
And so, at the beginning of over time, we immediately transitioned into defense. The lack of shot clock awareness, open man awareness, costed us multiple opportunities to regain the league. The first 3-minute overtime period ended still tied and left both teams in high tensions.
At the second over time period, the defense made a major lapse when we allowed a man down counter attack leading us to get scored on early in the second. Leading to a score of 7-8. Sadly, the possessions after, we were unable to convert thus leading to a very frustrating defeat.
The rest of the matches were hard fought but easily lost due to exhaustion and the lack of substitutes. The entire tournament we had 7 players in the water the entire tournament. The exhaustion hit us as soon as we played our first match Sunday morning at 8am. In addition to Iowa State and Nebraska; we also played Kansas and Harper College.
Our next tournament falls on November 5th and 6th at University of Minnesota with another 4 matches. The goal is to improve from this last tournament and hopefully increase our numbers. The hard work will not stop.
