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Women's
water polo splashes into new season
Stuff
• Senior goalkeeper Bri Hawkins will
command the defense for the 49ers at the
UC San Diego Invitational. Matt Brown /
Sports Information
Set
• Senior Jessica Levin tallied 12
goals and 18 earned ejections last season.
Matt Brown / Sports Information
By
Moria Khou
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
Potential
is a word often used in sports vernacular
and many positive connotations spurt from
this single term. When potential blossoms
and materializes into success, then it is
as beautiful to watch as a fragrant violet
blooming in the spring air.
Then
again, if potential gets mentioned year
in, year out, then it just becomes a proverbial
fixture that fails to live up to expectations.
Take
for instance the Long Beach State women's
water polo team. Potential is an idiom that
has lent itself to the team for countless
years now, and the team has reached the
Mountain Pacific Sports Conference Final
Four, three consecutive years. Judged by
any other measuring stick, the program is
a complete success, but there is another
level the team has yet to aspire to—a
national title.
The
49ers, ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll,
finished last season with 21-9 record, losing
the MPSF third place game to UCLA.
"We
had a frustrating season last year,"
junior driver Alison Braden said. "I
feel like we need to get over the mental
hurdle created last season in order to achieve
the most successful season possible."
Achieving
success will be a difficult transition without
last year's captain Angelica Garcia, who
graduated. Garcia holds the all-time career
goal record at LBSU with 206. In her final
season at The Beach, she racked up numerous
awards including College Water Polo Association
All-American for the forth time and National
Strength and Conditioning Association All-Americans.
"It
was a huge loss, of course, losing somebody
who scored over 200 goals in four seasons
and consistently earned All-American honors,"
Head Coach Ricardo Azevedo said. "We
will miss her intensity, her scoring ability
and leadership. But I'm expecting some of
our veteran players to step up and fill
those voids."
The
tides in The Campus Pool have calmed now,
just as Garcia is a foregone conclusion.
This season as the team dives into the pool,
washing off old residue of unfulfilled hopes,
a renewed sense of optimism arises for the
ultimate goal of winning it all.
Looking
ahead, the 49ers will swim behind a tightly
formed group of upper classmen that includes
co-team captain senior goalkeeper Bri Hawkins
and senior two-meter offense Drue Wawrzynski.
Other key returning seniors are two-meter
Robyn Gordin and Jessica Levin.
Gordin
recognizes the sense of urgency building
up for the players on the team with a leadership
role this season.
"We
have a strong senior team and a lot of us
came in together as freshmen," she
said.
"This
year we know it's our last chance."
The
49ers will also look to junior All-American
driver Cassie Azevedo to find the back of
the net. The team's speedy Canadian Braden
and Tara Campbell, who is returning after
shoulder surgery, will be spearheading the
49ers' counter attack. LBSU also added two
important players in the offseason, senior
transfer Jeanine Jackson from Stanford and
Brazilian newcomer Marina Canetti.
Depth
at all positions is a focal point for the
team this season, but the 49ers will need
more than depth to dowse the fiery flames
from the defending champions, USC. The Women
of Troy went undefeated (29-0) last season,
en route to bringing home the title. The
top-ranked UCLA Bruins and Stanford Cardinal
are also MPSF conference rivals LBSU will
have to get past if they want to savor the
thrill of victory.
"UCLA
is in a class by themselves," said
the coach, who is devising a new game plan.
"We
work very hard in the pool and we feel that
we can compete against USC and UCLA."
Over
the winter break, the 49ers traveled to
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for 10 days to get
away from the distractions in preparation
for the upcoming season. They worked on
underlying skills and conditioning and trained
with the Brazilian Junior National Team
in hopes of dethroning the current national
champions.
"I
think our trip to Brazil gave us a good
chance to get familiar with each other's
playing style in the water and learn to
work together," Canetti said. "We
will be much stronger because of that."
If
all goes as plan for the 49ers this season,
then promise should transpire into a tangible
reward—an NCAA plaque and no longer
will they have the stigma of being "the
team with all the potential."
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