Polo Gets First Win of Season at Inland Empire Tournament

REDLANDS, Calif. (Sept. 8, 2007) – Just nine days after the water polo team jumped in the pool to begin training for the season they played in the Inland Empire Tournament (hosted by Redlands and La Verne) on Sept. 8-9. With just one win in four games, Occidental is confident they will continually improve becoming more competitive as the season wears on.

The lone victory came against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival La Verne at La Verne on Saturday morning. The Tigers entered the day ranked ninth in the nation in Division III and upset the Leopards (#8) 13-12. The junior duo of Cameron Brahmst and Andrew Valdes led the offensive charge with four goals apiece. Valdes was 4-4 shooting in the game and added and assist and the only Tigers field block of the contest.

After securing their first win of the season the Tigers faced a second SCIAC rival in Cal Lutheran (#5) for the night-cap. The Kingsmen took the momentum in the fourth quarter and handed Occidental a disappointing 12-11 loss in the final game of the Tournament. Valdes and Abiel Garcia each found the back of the net twice and Austen Oliver was credited with three assists in the contest.

Game one on day one was as tough as could be as the Tigers met the CSTV Media Poll’s # 1 ranked team in the nation, UCLA. Although Occidental fell to the Bruins 18-3, they will use the game as a learning experience. The Tigers were enthusiastic about the opportunity to play a Division I team and put forth a lot of effort in the contest. Oliver put the Tigers on the board with his first collegiate goal during the second period. Also scoring in his first college game was Adalberto Vasquez who netted the second goal of the game for Oxy.

The Tigers dropped the second game of day one to Cal Baptist by a score of 14-7. If you took away the second quarter in which Occidental allowed nine goals, it would have been a different story.

Overall the weekend was a learning and growing one for the Tigers, who all had an opportunity to get in the pool and show the coaches what they have.

Oliver’s weekend concluded with six drawn penalties, five assists, three goals, a stela and a field block. Vasquez tallied four steals, two goals, an assist and a drawn penalty. Josh Kantor scored against Cal Baptist, marking his first collegiate goal. Also appearing in his first collegiate games were Greg Benz (goal, assist, steal, drawn penalty), Jake Wright (drawn penalty) and David Nelson (two goals, two steals, drawn penalty). Junior transfer Jake Santelli finished his first tournament weekend at Oxy with eight steals, two drawn ejections and a goal.

In front of the cage Blair Bergsteinsson and Max Kelly split time, recording 22 blocks apiece during the four-game set.

Occidental will have an opportunity to redeem themselves against three of these four teams in the coming weeks. Next up for the Tigers is the California Lutheran Invitational, the first time the Tigers will play at CLU’s new Samuelson Aquatics Center. The team will face off against Fresno Pacific at 10:30 a.m. before a re-match with Cal Baptist at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15.