Water Polo Hangs Tough with McKendree Before Falling
The Westcliff men’s water polo team found itself down 13-7 with two minutes left to play against DI powerhouse McKendree (Lebanon, Ill.) Thursday morning at the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine. With the contest essentially no longer in doubt and its best players already having played heavy minutes, the Warriors could have packed it in. Instead, they charged back, scoring three goals in a matter of seconds, and forcing a McKendree timeout. In the end, it was the Bearcats packing it in – sitting on possession and running out the clock for a 13-10 win.
By BRANDON PETERSEN
The Westcliff men's water polo team found itself down 13-7 with two minutes left to play against DI powerhouse McKendree (Lebanon, Ill.) Thursday morning at the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.
With the contest essentially no longer in doubt and its best players already having played heavy minutes, the Warriors could have packed it in.
Instead, they charged back, scoring three goals in a matter of seconds, and forcing a McKendree timeout.
In the end, it was the Bearcats packing it in – sitting on possession and running out the clock for a 13-10 win.
"Obviously, it's not the end that we wanted for this game," Westcliff head coach Preslav Djippov said. "We played well in the first and second quarters, in the third we just ran out of gas. Too many unforced errors. Too many bad passes."
Djippov is currently playing tight rotations of seven or eight, and they're playing long minutes.
After battling McKendree toe-to-toe in a tight first half, the Warriors found themselves down 4-2 at the break. They tied it up early in the third, but then the Warriors' depth caught up to them.
"We just got our captain back, Casey Hammond, and he's not ready yet," Djippov said. "Right now three, four players are taking the bulk of the shots. So we need a little more depth to oppose those DI teams."
The Warriors rely heavily on Luca Silvestri, its unquestioned leader and star. Silvestri scored six goals Thursday, including two of the final three.
"I thought that we showed some character in the final minutes," Djippov said. "The score was 13-7 there, and it ended 13-10. But I thought we could have won that game.
"It was a good game. We are growing up. We are getting there, now we just need to practice a little more. With a little more time, we will be a lot better."
Hammond scored a goal and had two assists. Djordje Mitrovic scored two, and Vincenzo Inguanta had a score and a pair of assists as well.
On the defensive end, Callem Norman had two steals, while Mitrovic and Silvestri had one each.
Silvestri is naturally a defender, but he doubles as the Warriors main scoring threat.
"Luca, obviously, is an extraordinary player," Djippov said. "He's such a huge asset to our team. Without him, it's really hard. All the plays, all the strategy, it's working around him. So the plan is to keep him here, build around him and bring in a few more guys like him next year."
In goal, Robert Barrera was outstanding, finishing with six saves on 13 goal attempts.
His counterpart, Ori Scanlon of McKendree, had a great game as well, finishing with six saves on 10 attempts.
"McKendree is a very, very strong program from the Midwest," Djippov said. "Two years ago, they won their conference championship, and that's huge. We are very fortunate to get them here – a DI team, and they've been around forever – it's a very strong program."
Westcliff travels to UCI tonight for a meeting with the DI Anteaters.
The match is scheduled for 7 p.m.
To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.