After two meets at Rio Hondo and Long Beach City College respectively, the men’s water polo team will host Pasadena City College Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.
Rio Hondo humiliated the Warriors, whose new team has only played together for three weeks, 19-1 on Wednesday.
“Rio Hondo and Long Beach City College are really very challenging. When you play a team that is a lot better than you are, it is really difficult to do things right,” coach Corey Stanbury said. “But we are making some progress; we are working on a bunch of things, not only on individual skills, but as a team as well.”
Despite the early losses, EC stays optimistic and knows what needs to be done to improve and to advance their talents.
“We have to work on defense, team cohesion; after all, we can manipulate the pool.” sophomore Alex Smith said.
Early losses did not take away the team’s confidence to continue on strengthening its weaknesses.
“My goal is to identify the team’s weak areas, strengthen our strong areas, so that we can get to a higher level,” Stanbury said.
EC played Long Beach City College yesterday, but results were not available at press time.
“I got mine,” Jacob Schulte, freshman, who scored the only goal for EC against Rio Hondo, said. “Rio Hondo was unable to shut out down El Camino.”
The Warriors gained a lot of experience in the Ventura Tournament last Friday and Saturday.
In the first game, the Warriors lost to Ventura College, 15-4.
“I think they have improved a lot this weekend,” Stanbury said. “I think this is all I can hope for at this point.”
The Warriors lost their two final games to L.A. Trade Tech 11-9, and Orange Coast 11-1.
Matt St. John scored the only goal in the last game.
“The tournament wasn’t fun,” St. John said. “We need to work on a lot.”
The team will need to focus defensively if it expects to improve in the following weeks.
“I think they are bonding pretty well together, so I like that part,” Stanbury said. “We have a lot of work to do to make sure that we are consistent in producing goals.”
The men’s water polo team is mostly made of inexperience freshmen, so the Warriors are facing a big challenge this upcoming season.
“I’m not expecting wins.” Stanbury said. “We have a certain amount of talent and blend in the team; we can get them to play together as best as they are capable.”
