Water
polo looks good early
By
Jacob Ian Jahn
On-line Forty-Niner
With
summer over and school back in session,
Long Beach State's men's water polo team
is geared up for a tough season and schedule.
After
getting back from Croatia the night before
school started and leaving for Maryland
last Thursday for the five-game 2003 Navy
Open Tournament, the team has already had
its fair share of traveling.
"We
just returned from a ten day trip to Croatia,"
said senior Nathan "Diggity" Allard.
"Already we had our first tournament
at Navy."
After
finishing the 2002 season with a 17-16 record
the 49ers finished 7th nationally.
"This
season we are going to have six of our starting
team returning but have a young bench,"
said Allard. "If we can get a
strong mesh between the young and old players
we have the chance for a great season."
After
this weekend's tournament at Navy the 49ers
started their season on top, finishing the
tournament with a record of four wins and
only one loss. On the first day of
play the men beat Iona, 8-5. They then topped
St. Francis, 10-8, before being edged out
by host, Navy, in a close 12-10 loss.
"We
felt that we played good water polo against
Navy but a lot of the game was run by the
referees," said Dave Del Grande.
"We just didn't get any good calls
and Navy did."
The
49ers ended the tournament by crushing their
last two opponents. They beat Queens
College, 10-6, and then spanked Johns Hopkins,
15-5.
The
49ers was led in scoring by returning players
Erik Geoffroy and Nathan Allard. Geoffroy
finished the tournament with a total of
15 goals and Allard tallied six.
The
49ers have been practicing hard in the off
season to polish the skills they need to
beat the top teams in their division.
"The
top teams to beat this year are going to
be Stanford, USC and Cal," said Ken
Turner a returning senior. "We
are going to need to play smart water polo
and use our heads to win."
With
a strong starting lineup and a young bench
the team is going to have to execute what
they have been practicing along with using
the knowledge and experience of the older
players.
"This
year's offense will revolve around Nate
Allard," said veteran player Scott
Miller. "You can also look to
Eric Geoffroy to put up big numbers on offense."
"The
49ers are going to need to get the ball
strong into Allard so that he can work the
hole," said Miller.
After
good performances early, the stage is set
for the 49ers to have a great season. Yet
returning fans and students are wondering
what will happen with Nate Allard's beard?
"No
beard this year," laughed Diggitty.
"I think that the refs tend to hate
on the beard and if I shave it I won't look
as rough."
"I
think maybe I will get more calls without
the beard."
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