The LBSU men’s water polo season is finally here, and the team has hopes of building off of its 22-7 campaign a season ago.
The 49ers enter the season ranked No. 6 in the nation as they prepare for the Triton Invitational in La Jolla where they will face three Top-15 ranked teams. Although the 49ers have some impressive senior leadership, they are not the same team from a season ago.
“Last year’s team was an old team. This year’s team is a predominantly young team,” head coach Gavin Arroyo said. “We’re starting three freshmen and two sophomores. We got a whole bunch of good ones but they’re young.”
The University of Redlands is the first opponent to start off Saturday’s competition. The Bulldogs had an abysmal 2014 season where they finished 9-21 for the year and will have a hard time replacing Tommy Hartwig.
The 49ers will get their youthful roster even more experience on Saturday afternoon, when LBSU, led by senior defender Zacchary Kappos, will take on No. 7 U.C. Santa Barbara in the weekend’s most anticipated showdown.
[sidebar title=”LBSU’s Triton Invitational schedule:” align=”left” background=”on” border=”all” shadow=”on”]9/5/15:
vs. Redlands at 9:50 a.m.
vs. UC Santa Barbara at 1:20 p.m.
9/6/15
vs. Loyola Marymount at noon.
vs. Pacific at 4 p.m.
[/sidebar]The Gauchos posted a 17-11 record in 2014, and struggled to close out the year, dropping six of their last seven games. However, they return sophomore attacker Shane Hauschild who tallied 27 goals and 16 assists.
The 49ers have a tall order ahead of them on Sunday as they face No. 14 Loyola Marymount at noon and No. 5 Pacific later that evening.
Loyola Marymount, despite suffering a losing season last year, brings back senior attacker Milutin Mitrovic. The Serbian native racked up 37 goals last season, setting the school record for most goals by a freshman.
Pacific will be an uphill battle and present the biggest challenge for LBSU during the Triton Invitational. The 49ers will have their hands full with All-American junior Ben Stevenson, who scored whopping 54 goals averaging 2.08 per game.
LBSU has been working hard in the offseason and will need the freshmen to make a quick transition into college water polo and be ready to take on the best of the best.
“It’s been really tough. We’ve been grinding all summer” freshman center Zack Minott said. “It’s a huge transition. The first time I came here I was dying but you get used to it.”
The seniors have been encouraging the freshmen to just to work hard and push through the growing pains, Minott said. The newest 49ers will be relied on to come up big if LBSU is to have a chance at a solid start.