With improvements over the past two weeks, the men’s water polo team is looking for a chance to get a victory when it hosts L.A. Trade Tech College Beavers Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.

The Warriors played the Beavers in the Ventura Tournament and came close to winning their first victory, but ran out of gas.

“I hope we’re going to play much better than in the Ventura Tournament,” coach Corey Stanbury said.

“We’ve improved dramatically the last two weeks, but we will find out when we play other teams that are equal to us instead of teams that are way better.” he said.

Last Wednesday, the Warriors lost to the Cerritos College Falcons 13-7. The loss dropped the Warriors record to 0-7, while the Falcons improved to 11-4.

It was a close game in the first two quarters until the Falcons put in their core of main players.

Halftime ended with the Falcons leading 5-3. However, early in the third quater, the Falcons stretched their lead to 11-4 and the Warriors were unable to mount a comeback.

“We thought we could win in the beginning, but not after they put in their main players in the third quarter,” freshman Jacob Schutle said.

Although they lost, the Warriors feel they are gaining some valuable experience for the final few games of the season.

“Though we haven’t won any of the games yet, they are all very good chances for us to gain experience,” David Allard said.

Experience is something the Warriors are lacking since most of the players are to new to the sport.

Allard is one of only three sophomores on the team and has been playing organized water polo for more than five years.

He said he agrees that it is diffucult sport to learn while competing tough competition.

“Since some of the players are new to water polo, they are not sure what to do, especially in game time situations,” Allard said.

The Warriors are working hard on improving their skills and their individual strength with workouts and practices every day.

“We will get a lot better this time,” freshman Daryl Hance said. “We have our swim workout from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. every morning and team practices from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every afternoon.”

Stanbury stresses that the team members need to work hard on keeping in perfect condition.

“We wake up early for a workout of conditioning,” Stanbury said.

“Afternoon practices are to condition our legs and to improve the team’s cohesiveness,” he said.

While the Warriors have made improvements, Stanbury said, that the team needs to keep organized offensively, as well as getting into better shape.

He also said he believes the squad needs to emphasize more team defense and passing skills.

“We are doing better on defense now,” Stanbury said. “However, right now we have to get better on keeping ourselves organized on the offense.”

Despite many disappointing losses, Schutle said he believes the Warriors will begin to get better results by playing more as team rather than individuals.

Consistency will always be a problem with a young team, but each game they participate in, they acquire valuable experiences for next season.

The Warriors are working hard to protect against the opposition’s counterattack, while creating some offense of their own at the same time.

“We are going to work really hard and make the team play consistently,” Stanbury said.

The Warrirors played Mt. SAC yesterday evening, but scores were not availabe at press time.