Men’s water polo finishes 3-1 at Cal Maritime Fall Classic
VALLEJO, Calif. – Forced to make quick adjustments late last week after UC Santa Cruz became unable to host this past weekend's men's water polo tournament, Cal Maritime stepped up to host this two-day event and did not let this location change affect its poise, or play, since the Keelhaulers finished with a 3-1 record against a deep and talented field.
Men's water polo will now enter next weekend's Sierra Pacific Championship with a 5-3 overall record, following a sweep of Saturday's schedule and a split of Sunday's matches.
The Keelhaulers started the weekend in attention-grabbing fashion after defeating Cal State Monterey Bay, 23-1, in the Fall Classic's opener.
Led by Charles Jolly with six, seven Keelhaulers scored against the Otters, a team that avoided CSUM's shutout bid by finding the back of the cage at the 3:10 mark of the third period. Until that shot, Cal Maritime scored 16 unanswered.
In the final match of the day, men's water polo faced a chippy Stanford squad that recorded the first goal, but saw Cal Maritime take the lead for good, just over two minutes later, when the Keelhaulers earned their second of three unanswered goals.
The closest the Cardinal came to pulling even with CSUM took place with 17 seconds left in the opening period when the home team's cushion was trimmed to three. Once the second quarter began, CSUM started to slowly pull away until its lead became too big for Stanford to negate.
Against Stanford, Aron Cameron was a one-man wrecking crew — he fell two goals shy of matching the Cardinal's collective total — since he scored a team-high eight and frustrated anyone who dared guard him all night long.
Clearly out-played from the opening whistle, the Cardinal tested the Keelhaulers' poise and mindset with its physicality but were unable to thwart a CSUM offense that was unfazed by the overly-aggressive (at times) play at both ends of the pool.
A four-game win streak, following its 20-10 win over the Cardinal, grew to five when action resumed Sunday morning, thanks to a 10-7 triumph versus Chico State.
Tied at two after the opening period, Cal Maritime scored all three goals recorded by either team the next quarter, and tacked on another two after halftime to extend its lead to five. That cushion was all the Keelhaulers needed to collect another W, with the tournament's finale vs. Cal awaiting the Keelhaulers.
In that matchup against last year's league champs, it was the Golden Bears who jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, then extended that lead the following quarter to enter halftime up 11-5.
Once the second half commenced, it was the Keelhaulers who dominated the rest of the game since Cal only scored once in each of the following two quarters.
Able to pull within four entering the final quarter, trailing 12-8, CSUM responded to an early Cal strike by scoring the next three straight, ultimately turning Cal's seven-goal advantage to a 13-11 score.
Unfortunately for the Keelhaulers, that became the final result since nobody scored throughout the final 3:45, ending their five-match win streak in the process.
By winning three of four played this past weekend, Cal Maritime will now shift its attention to next week's Sierra Pacific Championship, also taking place at PEAC Pool (as originally scheduled). In addition to a league title, an automatic berth to the national championship is at stake throughout this two-day event, which begins on Saturday, October 22.
Visit GoKeelhaulers.com throughout the upcoming days for information pertaining to this tournament.
Cal Maritime 23, Cal State Monterey Bay 1
Cal Maritime Scoring
Charles Jolly 6, Ian Diamond 4, Ryan Oldewurtel 4, Damian Fischer 4, Spencer Powley 3, Aron Cameron 1, Kevin Kraatz 1
Cal State Monterey Bay Scoring
Aaron Helfaott 1
Cal Maritime 20, Stanford 10
Cal Maritime Scoring
Aron Cameron 8, Ian Diamond 6, Jake Douglas 3, Ian Healy 2, Kevin Kraatz 1
Stanford Scoring
No roster provided
Cal Maritime 10, Chico State 7
Cal Maritime Scoring
Ian Diamond 4, Aron Cameron 2, Kevin Kraatz 2, Ian Healy 1, Jack Williams 1
Chico State Scoring
#12 3, #3 1, #7 1, #12 1, #22 1
Cal 13, Cal Maritime 11
Cal Maritime Scoring
Kevin Kraatz 4, Connor Wadhams 3, Ian Diamond 1, Aron Cameron 1, Charles Jolly 1, Armando Valenzuela 1
Cal Scoring
Christopher Wazzan 6, Zachary Feldner 2, Kai Mohl 2, Connor Tunney 2, Daniel Ardenano 1