Water polo sinks 2 at tournament

photo by Jason Cooper

Andrea Griffith of La Verne receives a blow from Claremont's Jane Mi. Later in the game Griffith would receive a kick in the face leaving her face bloodied and stitches in her lip. These were not the only blows CMS delivered to La Verne as the Athenas delt the Leopards a 11-5 loss in the Claremont tournament March 17. La Verne finished 1-2 in the tournament.

by Anna Roy
Staff Writer

Overall, the weekend was a mixture of defeats, wins and even stitches for the team. This past weekend the women's water polo team faced four of its toughest competitors in a demanding pre-season tournament at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The weekend began with a game against Cal State San Bernardino. ULV played a strong match and came out on top, defeating the Coyotes, 6-5.

Goalie Maria de Santis blocked a total of eight goals.

Their second game against Claremont was disappointing, as junior Andrea Griffith was hit in the mouth by the offense during the second half of the game and received stitches.

Reportedly, Griffith was guarding the Claremont player Jane Mi, when she hit Griffith in the mouth.

As a result of the split lip, Griffith was rushed to the emergency room where she received stitches, but returned to the pool Sunday. The Claremont player did not receive an offensive foul.

"Well, we played a really good first half, though when Andrea got injured, we lost all focus, and mentally weren't in it," said junior Tandis Morgan. "None of us had ever seen anything that gory in a game before."

Claremont defeated La Verne, 11-5.

The third game against Redlands was challenging for ULV.

"We dug ourselves into a hole the first quarter, 3-0. Every quarter after that, we outplayed them and couldn't catch up," said Morgan.

The final game played under the hot sun before a large crowd of spectators turned out to be a fierce one.

"Pomona-Pitzer are our rivals, they don't like us and we don't like them. Every game is pretty physical. We came close and had some letdowns," said Griffith.

"In this game, our goalie did awesome, she really saved us," said Griffith.

With under a minute to go, Pomona-Pitzer scored the last goal to defeat La Verne in a total score of 8-7. The team is confident about beginning SCIAC competition.

"I think we played tough games, and when it comes to conference time, we know what we need to do to win," said Griffith.