Water polo seeks to improve

By Manuel Gamiz Jr., On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, October 1, 1998

After eight matches, the Long Beach State men's water polo team has had an up-and-down season.

One of the team's low points came this weekend when it lost its first two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches.

The Beach lost to the University of Pacific 10-9 on Saturday and then lost to Stanford 14-6 on Sunday. The two losses drop the team's record to 3-5.

"Until last weekend, things were going well," head coach Ken Lindgren said.

Lindgren said injuries to four of the team's top players contributed to the team's bad weekend. He said injuries to the players kept them from participating in practice.

The four players injured were senior driver Matt Tilton, senior defender Vince Trotter, sophomore driver Matt Sakatani and freshman defender Chris Segesman.

Before this weekend, the team was ranked No. 7 in MPSF polls. The team had a 3-3 record after a seventh-place finish in the Southern California Tournament on Sept. 19 and 20.

The team's leading scorers are senior 2-meter man Jeff Coyler with 17 points. He has a season-high point total of five points against UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 20 in a 9-7 win.

Following close behind Coyler is junior 2-meter man Corey Dolley with 15 points, including 5 two-point goals.

Dolley has twice scored four points in a single match. He had four points in back-to-back games against UC San Diego on Sept. 19 in an 8-7 win and also against Stanford on Sept. 20 in a 10-6 loss.

Senior goalie Adam Carter has improved on last season's saves per game average. This season, Carter is averaging 8.5 saves per game, almost one goal over last season's average of 7.53 goals per game. His game-high saves total is 13 against USC on Sept. 15 in a 12-6 loss.

Lindgren said he believes that the team should perform much better against this weekend's opponent.

"I don't know too much about Occidental," he said. "I believe that we should not have any difficulties with them."

The team plays Occidental College on Friday at the Campus Pool at 3:30 p.m.

The team returns to MPSF action next week traveling to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Oct. 10 and coming home against UC Berkeley on Sunday, Oct. 11.