Water polo heads north for weekend tournament

Currently undefeated, the men’s water polo team looks to add four more games to its win column as the Trojans head up north for the Aggie Roundup where they will take on No. 15 Cal Baptist and unranked MIT on Saturday, and Santa Clara and No. 6 Long Beach State on Sunday. While the Trojans have maintained a standard of excellence for the last four years by not losing a game until the semifinals each year, the team isn’t focusing on that right now.

“I think no teams are going to take us lightly and we can’t go into any game taking the opponent lightly,” senior 2-meter Lachlan Edwards said. “But I don’t think we are even thinking about that … We want to take every game as it comes.”

The team’s eyes remained set on the finals, as it looks to continue to assert its dominance early in the season.

“It’s just important that we approach each game on a clean slate and … that we remain never satisfied,” senior driver Blake Edwards said.

While two games in one day is already taxing for the players, the team will have two games, two days in a row. Even being conditioned for these types of situations doesn’t make playing each game with the same energy and reaching the same goal any easier. However, the team is confident in its coaching staff and trusts that everything will run smoothly.

“You know, we have a really tough summer period, a lot of hours in the pool, so we’re conditioned for that,” Blake said. “It is obviously quite difficult, but we’ve got great resources in looking after our recovery and making sure we get back up each game.”

The team will face strong opponents all weekend, but it will be the last game Sunday that will be their most difficult. Not only is Long Beach State ranked No. 6, but the two also played over the summer, meaning that the Trojans know their style of play, and Long Beach State knows USC’s.

“Long Beach are a very physical team,” Blake said. “We scrimmaged them quite a lot over the summer and we know that they are quite a tough, physically demanding team. So, for us, it is all about keeping up composure, sticking to our game plan and following our system.”

USC’s system now includes using key players from last season that have begun to make an even greater impact this season and even some freshmen already showing what they can do in the pool. The seniors have been playing together for three years, going on their fourth, but one of the team’s strengths lies with their ability to have players of all ages step up and make their mark.

“The sophomores are definitely stepping up, like Matt Maier, Thomas Dunstan, Marin Dasic and then our freshman Marko Vavic was awesome in the game [against Stanford] and really fired it up,” Lachlan Edwards said. “I think our seniors … know each other pretty well, and we are always looking forward to playing with these younger guys. They are really stepping up and showing off that they deserve a place on the team.”