The men’s water polo team finished the 2009 season placing fourth in the South Coast Conference thanks to lead scorer Javier Molina and goalkeeper David Olson.
“We had a very balanced team (this season) so it wasn’t just a one or two person team,” coach Corey Stanbury said.
The team played their last conference tournament at rival Chaffey’s pool on November 6-7 which made the two day tournament a challenge for the men.
“We have played Chaffey before at their pool and had a close game,” Stanbury said and this game was no different.
The men won the first game against Chaffey 12-11, thus scoring them the 4th place title in conference. Freshman Patrick Grunbock had a strong game with six goals for EC.
“(The game) was very back and forth and close, especially the 4th quarter,” Stanbury said.
The tight game against Chaffey was nothing new for the men who had been battling this team the whole season.
“Our main concern was Chaffey, so it was really intense,” Jose Bahena, 19, said.
The team had little time to celebrate as they were up against 3rd in the state Long Beach City College that same day.
“We didn’t have our goalkeeper (David Olson) because of an anatomy exam he couldn’t miss,” Stanbury said.
Not only was the goalkeeper missing from the game but the lead scorer Molina was also absent from the game, no doubt leading to the 16-4 loss.
The next day the Warrior’s faced their last game of the 2009 season against Mt. San Antonio College which ended in another 17-3 loss.
“(Mt. Sac) are very fast and have an effective counter attack,” Stanbury said. The team played strong defense in an attempt to keep the game close and succeeded in keeping the number of opposing goals low in the first half.
“The last quarter we put the bench in so they had a chance to play,” Stanbury said.
Overall the team had a strong season winning 10 out of 22 of their games and showing improvement as the season carried through.
“We started with a bunch of new players who had never played water polo before that learned a lot,” Stanbury said. These new comers coupled with strong returners gave the team depth and a range of players to choose from come game time.
“You never knew who was going to be hot that game,” Stanbury said referring to how strong the individual players were.
Beyond just scores and wins the team was also a “fun one” that “worked hard and got down to it” when necessary said Stanbury.
Next season will bring a challenge for the team though with the loss of their goalkeeper Olson due to his two years being up.
“We will need to find a strong goalie and work with that,” Stanbury said.
Luckily the lead scorer Molina will be returning and they will have two other returning starters to give the team core strength.
“The key team will be good and we just gotta add to that,” Stanbury said