NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! Men’s Water Polo Wins It All

By Brandon Petersen

They said they were going to do it. 

Then, they did it. 

Westcliff men's water polo is the university's first NAIA national champion after beating OUAZ, not once (13-11), but twice (19-16) over the weekend in their rival's pool. 

Oh, and they threw in a 28-4 drubbing of UC Merced for good measure. 

Gauntlet defeated.

How sweet it is. 

"The feeling is incredible," Westcliff head coach Preslav Djippov said. "It's really hard to describe it in simple words. We all knew that we could become the first national champions at Westcliff University, and the players realized that, and that's why they went all out. 

"They wanted to put their names in history, to become the first to win a national championship trophy — something that we couldn't do last year — and it's just an incredible, incredible feeling."

Djippov said the Warriors celebrated their victory in the pool, out of the pool, and all the way back to the team hotel.

"The trophy has incredible value," Djippov said. "In terms of the future success of the program, now the recruits will see what it means to be a Warrior. 

"That's super special. That's something we've been working on for two years. We are super blessed, and incredibly grateful to the athletic department for all of the support all the way through."

Westcliff won the right to play in the championship by sweeping Friday's matches. 

The defending national champions, OUAZ was in no mood to hand over the hardware in their own pool.

"The final was an interesting game," Djippov said. "We didn't start well, and the refs were calling everything for the hosts. Early in the second quarter, we were down by three goals."

Djippov called a timeout and had his assistants address the players while he went to the table to get an explanation on what he felt were a series of bad calls. 

"It was like four consecutive turnovers on calls against us," Djippov said. "Every offensive possession they turned us back, and they cancelled a goal."

The timeout helped. 

Djippov was able to lodge his displeasure with the officials, the team switched up tactics, and the flow of the game started to turn. 

"At halftime, we were down only one," Djippov said. 

The Warriors came out of the break aggressively, and started playing their game. 

By the end of the third they were up by two, and it was a business-like closing in the fourth to wrap up the title. 

"Three of their starters got rolled on exclusions," Djippov said. "And, at the same time, we were able to protect our starters, so that really helped."

Giljan Alfano led the way with six goals. 

Mateja Bosic had five. 

Bosic picked up the tournament's Most Valuable Player award afterward. 

"Overall, his season was really good," Djippov said. "He played really well in the final. He scored a lot of goals and got a lot of steals."

The tournament's defensive MVP went to Westcliff keeper, Roberto Barrera. 

"He saved us in very crucial moments of the final," Djippov said. "He deserved the top defensive player of the tournament."

Westcliff finished the season 20-15.

A remarkable feat for second-year NAIA program that took on all NCAA DI and DII comers all season long. 

They wanted to make history. 

They did it.