Women’s Water Polo Prepares for Alumni Game

Alex Hawes, Sports Editor

alex_hawes@csumb.edu

Feb.14, 2008

The 2008 CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) women’s water polo team is cruising along strong into this weekend’s upcoming alumni game with a 3-1 record and their only loss coming to UC Davis who is ranked number 10 in the nation. 

While the alumni game may seem like a somewhat light-hearted event, it does count as an official win or loss on the team’s record and the game does get competitive.  Erin Lee, a senior business major and attacker on this year’s team noted, “Last year things started out fun and not too serious, but after a while it started getting pretty competitive.”  

Gary Figueroa, head coach of the team said, “This will be our second alumni game.  Our first year, the coaches had to join the alums just to have enough players.  Hopefully, this year we won't need to.  Growing our alumni base will continue to be important for the growth of the water polo program here at CSUMB.”  

One interesting aspect of the alumni game is the comparison of the physical conditions between those on this year’s team versus those who have not been training and practicing for the last year that will be on the alumni team.  

Senior Liberal Studies major and goalie Jenna Beer said, “Well I think it’s a little bit tougher for the alums because we’ve had the benefit of practicing and playing up to this point.  We may be in a little better shape then them.  But they’ve got some good swimmers over there.  If Sarah [Burke] plays we could have our hands full.”

Sarah Burke was unavailable for comment but she could provide a big boost for the alums this season if she plays as she was considered one of last year’s best players.

With all this considered, the main goal for a game like this is to have fun and reunite former teammates and friends.  Lee stated, “I’m just really looking forward to it this year because I know more alums and it’ll be more fun because of that.  The main point is to just have fun and play polo.”  

In the team’s first season as a part of Division II water polo in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Figueroa has realistic goals, “We hope to continue growing and improving.  We have high expectations for this season.  We want to improve our finish in the conference from last year as well as get everyone on the team to have above a 3.0 GPA.”  

The alumni game will be held on Saturday Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. at the pool on campus.

“It’s a great opportunity for the current players to learn new skills from the older players,” said Beer. “I’m really looking forward to seeing some of my teammates from last year.”