Water polo gets fresh faces

Summer is all but over and fall is approaching, but that hasn't stopped a group of guys from frolicking in the swimming pool.

That's right, it's time for the Cal State Long Beach water polo season to begin. The team kick's off the regular season this Saturday and Sunday at the Newport Seafest Tourna ment in Corona Del Mar. The 49ers will face UCLA at 10:30 a.m. in the first round.

This year's team is looking to improve from it's record last season when they finished last in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference with a disappointi ng record of 1-9, 6-19 overall.

"We expect to be much improved over last year," said Coach Ken Lindgren. "We've worked extremely hard all spring; they've done a Iot of swimming on their own, and I don't think there's another team in the country that has worked harder than us, especially this early in the season."

The 49ers have experienced some very tough breaks this past month. Kip Parsons, the second leading scorer on the team last year, and a second team all conference selection, will need shoulder surgery and is out for the season. Joe Mihalow, one of the team's best defenders is expected to miss at least several weeks with an undiagnosed stomach ailment.

"It's going to put a lot of pressure on everybody," Lindgren said. "Most of o ur games are against teams that finished in the top 10 last year."

Last year, Parsons and Chi Kredell scored 62.5 percent of the team's points. Kredell was a third team All-American selection and led the 49ers in scoring last season.

With the l oss of Parsons and Kredell, the 49ers need sophomore Tim Ault and senior Trevor Wiens to increase their scoring to help fill the void.

Pressure will also be put on freshman Greg Finley, who will have to replace Parsons as the team's two-meter man (water polo's equivalent to basketball's center position).

"He's a very capable player," Lindgren said. "But he just hasn't played at this level."

With injuries to key players and the team's tough schedule, one would expect another sub-par season for the tradition-rich 49er water polo team, but Lindgren remains optimistic.

"Even with our injuries, I expect this year's team to be pretty good," Lindgren said. "Our goal is to see if we can made to the NCAA (tournament) this year."

If this year's team is able to excel, than the 49ers should have "Dream Team" in years to come.

The team is loaded with underclassmen, with five sophomores, three freshmen and 10 redshirts.

Even with a crop of young talent, Lindgren is expecting success this season.

"We're not building for the future," he said. "The future is this year."