This weekend in California, the men's water polo team discovered there is nothing quite like going against the best opposition the country can offer. The team dropped four of six games in a four-day span, each loss coming to a nationally ranked opponent. The weekend puts the team at 9-7 heading into league play this upcoming weekend.
On Thursday, No. 20 Brown defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 6-5, just hours after arriving on the West Coast. The defense proved strong, led by seven saves from goalkeeper Kent Holland '10 and a team-high three steals from Hank Weintraub '09. Scoring was spread among six Bears, including Mike Gartner '09, who put the game-winner in the back of the cage with 2:44 remaining in the game.
While the traveling situation was tough, Brown persevered. "It was not an ideal situation for us," said Head Coach Felix Mercado. "I don't like the kids missing school. Going cross-country is difficult."
The team was less concerned with results than matching itself up with some of the best competition in the country.
"For the most part we were successful," Holland said. "The goal was to see where we stood against better teams and find out what we need to focus on between now and the end of the season."
Mercado also wanted to focus on the team's play rather than the win-loss column on this trip.
"When we play powerhouse teams that practice for six hours a day, we see where we are," he said. "It's something that East Coast teams have to do."
On Friday and Saturday, Brown participated in the Claremont Convergence tournament, which pitted the Bears against No. 5 Pepperdine Unversity, California Lutheran University and Santa Clara University, with whom Brown shared the No. 20 ranking at the time. The Bears fell 17-4 to Pepperdine but came back later that day to defeat Cal Lutheran 9-8, outscoring the Kingsmen 6-4 in the second half in a comeback effort.
On Saturday morning, the Bears lost a heartbreaker to Santa Clara, 8-7. Grant LeBeau '09 shined against the Broncos, beating the opposing goalie five times in a game that had national ranking implications because the two teams were tied at the time.
"In the Santa Clara game we had more incentive because they are tied at (No.) 20 with us," Mercado said.
Brown finished up the road trip with a 16-4 loss to No. 4 University of California, Los Angeles, on Saturday and a 10-4 loss to No. 7 Long Beach State University on Sunday.
Despite the rough results, the team was very happy with the effort and the fan support. Many of the players are from the West Coast originally, and even some parents from the Midwest came out for the games. The 30-person contingenct cheering the team on was more than the team often gets at home games because it plays its home games so far away due to pool renovations.
"It made the team feel that they have support, which is sometimes hard because we don't have a pool," Mercado said. "We had parents, friends and even alumni out there cheering for us."
Holland added that playing outdoors was a nice change of scenery for the team. "The guys enjoy playing outside," he said. "It's a good change of pace from indoor pools, especially for the guys from the West Coast who grew up playing outside."
The Bears will try to take what they learned from playing the big boys of the water polo world and improve going into their Northeastern schedule.
"This is where the season starts," Mercado said. "It's the stretch run against teams we can beat."
Brown will start the stretch run this weekend, when it takes on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday, Fordham University on Friday and Iona College on Saturday. All the games will be held in Cambridge this weekend.
