California Lutheran University’s men’s water polo team defeated the California Institute of Technology 19-5 in the Kingsmen’s second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game of the season. This win extends the Kingsmen’s win streak to five.
Before the game started, Assistant Coach Chet Hardy said the audience should be expecting “a lot of high energy, very good mentality from the boys, and just really tough physical play.”
The Kingsmen outscored the Beavers 7-2 in the first quarter. Three of the goals were from first-year attacker Merrick Giles. Levi Cook, sophomore attacker, had three assists.
“At the beginning of the game, getting three assists off the bat, that felt pretty good. You know, setting up my teammates always feels good,” Cook said.
Hardy shared details about the team’s preparation.
“We’ve been working a lot on the little details, the fundamentals, and the things that really make our systems work, so that’s another thing you can expect. There’s a lot of attention to the details and really just honing in on our skills and just trying to put everything together so to give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful,” Hardy said.
The Kingsmen scored against the Beavers 3-0 in the second (3-0) and third (6-2) quarters.
Hardy said the largest challenge leading up to the game was consistency in performance.
“The biggest challenge is making sure that we play up to our level for all four quarters and making sure we’re playing to the best of our abilities and just trying to get into the mindset of no matter who we’re playing against, we’re always playing at our level,” Hardy said.
In the final quarter, the Kingsmen outscored Caltech 3-1, resulting in the team’s 19-5 win. Head Coach Tim Settem said he was satisfied with how the team performed.
“Our guys played fantastic. I think we played with a lot of composure, a lot of control, and we executed a lot of things that we wanted to. We had little mishaps here and there, but for the most part, I was really pleased with how we played,” Settem said.
Settem said everyone on the team who played gave a great performance to contribute to the Kingsmen’s victory.
“I couldn’t tell you a single player who really stood out. I think everyone played out, like, at a level that’s outstanding. So it really wasn’t one player dominating. As you saw, we had almost everybody play, and I think it gave everybody an opportunity to kind of shine in their own right,” Settem said.
Cook said that he was glad to see everyone on his team have a shot at playing during the game.
“We got everyone to play, so that’s always nice,” Cook said.
Settem said the Kingsmen’s quality of being a well-balanced team allows for success.
“Because they’re so collective and they play together, there’s really not one person that just, ‘okay, here’s our go-to guy, here’s the one that’s going to stand out the most.’ I think we’re such a well-balanced team that it really allows us to do that,” Settem said.
The Kingsmen are set to face Chapman University on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The Kingsmen played Chapman at the Titan Invitational back in September and lost by three points. Settem emphasized the importance of the team scrutinizing their fundamentals so they can play to the best of their abilities.
“It’s really focusing on that attention to detail. Regardless of the team that we’re going to face, it’s really making sure we’re doing the little things to execute at our highest level,” Settem said.
