Hamlet Nalbandyan
Odds and ends from the past week in the local boys' water polo
scene.
A wake-up call: "If our guys had swam during the swim season and
practiced all throughout the summer, imagine just how much better
they would be," said Glendale boys' water polo Coach Pat Lancaster
after Tuesday's 12-9 loss to visiting Arcadia, which effectively took
Glendale out of the running for the Pacific League title.
"Basically, our guys took the spring and summer off, and
obviously, [Arcadia] didn't.
"Hopefully, this will be a good wake-up call for them. There's a
big difference between the first quarter and the fourth quarter, and
our guys just aren't physically strong enough when it comes to crunch
time."
Lancaster has every reason to be frustrated. The players on this
year's varsity team won the junior varsity league title two years
ago, but a lot has changed since then.
Many of them didn't participate on the school's swim team, nor did
they play club water polo. And during the summer, Glendale played all
of its matches with its JV team because most of its varsity quit for
undisclosed reasons.
"I'm hoping a loss like this will convey the message to them that
they needed to be better prepared," Lancaster said. "We have a good
team and we were right there [Wednesday], but it's those little
things that prevented us from winning."
Just in time: La Canada's Eric Murphy returned from an orbital
blowout fracture in his left eye to score three goals in helping the
Spartans get a big, 13-9, victory against visiting El Segundo on
Tuesday, but he almost didn't play in the match.
Murphy, who had played in just one match prior to Tuesday's, got
the OK from doctors during fifth period Tuesday.
"Once I got permission, I just rushed to the pool to play," said
Murphy, who didn't wear any protective gear because he said doctors
told him it wouldn't make a difference.
"It's great to finally be back. It's a little scary down there,
because there are a lot of elbows flying, but I'll make the needed
adjustments."
