The California Lutheran University women’s water polo team started off the Tina Finali Tournament with a heartbreaking 15-14 defeat in overtime against Ottawa University on Friday.
The score went back and forth throughout the whole game with both teams fighting hard to try and gain the lead. With less than a second left in the fourth quarter, senior driver Megan Findlay managed to find the back of the net and bring the game into overtime with a score of 11-11.
The teams kept it tight until the end but Ottawa managed to take home the victory by outsourcing the Regals 4-3 in overtime, winning the game with a final score of 15-14.
โIn the beginning [of overtime] youโre tired, but at the end, your adrenaline kicks in and youโre ready to play and win, so it’s not that bad,โ graduate student driver Bethany Metcalfe said.
The Regals are coming into this season with seven new first-years and transfer students as well as a new head coach, so the team has a lot of new factors to get used to.
โItโs definitely a learning curve, I think learning how each other plays and getting used to tendencies and where people want the ball is really hard, but we’re getting the hang of it and the more games we get under our belt the better weโre gonna be,โ Metcalfe said.
This was the first game of four games that the Regals will play over the weekend so they will quickly have more opportunities to improve and work together as a team.
โItโs improvement every single day and I think that thatโs the biggest expectation for them, is to come out, improve every day and compete at our highest level each and every time we step into the water,โ Head Regals Water Polo Coach Tim Settem said.
According to Settem, this game was expected to be a tight one but going into overtime was not something he had expected for this game.
Settem said that the Regals made some mistakes while they were up that allowed Ottawa to get back in the game, and had opportunities to score that did not go in their favor throughout the game.
Although the Regals lost they are looking at the game as a learning opportunity where they can analyze what went wrong and work on their mistakes.
โI think itโs just composure and decision-making, I think thatโs the biggest thing,โ Settem said. โWe tend to rush things a little bit so if weโre a little more composed and make a little bit better decisions offensively, weโre gonna put ourselves in the right frame of mind and in the right position to finish the way we want to.โ
While the teams have not started the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play yet, the Regals are looking to be competitive in the conference right now, and according to Settem, are ranked 3rd in the SCIAC behind Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
โThose two teams are outstanding and so weโre gonna have to step up our game a little bit,” Settem said. “If we play the way that weโre capable of, weโre in the mix for a conference title.”
The Regals are looking forward to competing with each other for the rest of the season as they prepare for SCIAC, and have already had games against Division 1 opponents such as Arizona State University and Loyola Marymount University.
โHonestly, Iโm just looking forward to the team and the coach in general, I really like coach Settemโฆ I really like the team, thereโs a good environment, I feel like weโre all really positive,โ sophomore driver Miranda Miller said.
The Regals dropped the remaining three games of the Tina Finali Tournament at Cal Lutheran: 14-6 vs Azusa Pacific University Friday afternoon, 15-8 vs California State University East Bay Saturday morning, and 13-7 vs Cal State Northridge Saturday afternoon.
The Regals will begin the Convergence Tournament at Occidental College – two games on Friday, March 11 against Cal State Monterrey Bay and Penn State Behrend. This will be followed by two games on Saturday, March 12 against UC Riverside and Fresno Pacific University. The Regals begin SCIAC play on March 3 against La Verne at home.
