Alumni Water Polo Club played in the second tournament of the 2017 U.S.A. National League Saturday, and Sunday March 11th and 12th at the beautiful Woollett Aquatic Center down in Irvine, CA. Looking to improve on its 1-1 finish and tie third place rank overall after the first weekend, Alumni WPC knew it would have to win some crucial games against elite opponents if it hoped to finish in the top four of the NLT to close out the regular the season before moving into the final Championship weekend.
ALUMNI WPC 8 v New York 5
Kevin Witt, LMU proved yet again how valuable he is to the team tied with 2 others for the 2nd leading scorer on the weekend for Alumni WPC with 4 goals.
In its first game of the big weekend, Alumni WPC faced off against the USA National League defending champions, the New York Athletic Club. Having never beaten the historically-dominant NYAC, Alumni WPC knew it would have to play its best to beat them.
In a game that featured two of the best goalies in the country--2012 Olympian Chay Lapin UCLA/ALU and 3-time Olympian Merrill Moses PEP/NYAC--goals were hard to make as only one was scored in the first quarter. Lance Morrison, assisted by Daniel Lenhart, put away a huge natural goal through two defenders and Moses.
Jack Wall, in his first national tournament game for Alumni WPC, snuck a slider by Moses off the long assist from Lapin. Then, Matt Burton struck quickly with an assist from Jake Young to go up 3-0. NYAC was able to break the seal and get their first goal on a rebound put-away to close the gap to 3-1 before the half.
NYAC scored again to open the half making it 3-2. Alumni WPC answered quickly on a key 6-on-5 goal by Andrew Reego assisted by Burton to go back up by 2. NYAC scored again but Kevin Witt answered on another 6-on-5. Griffin Lerman, Alumni WPC's leading scorer the first weekend, got on the board to make it a decisive 6-3 advantage. NYAC got one more, but yet again Alumni WPC had an answer as Greg Enloe, assisted by Reego, scored a hard shot from the 3-post closing the third period with Alumni WPC up 7-4.
The final quarter was very defensive as Lapin was an absolute wall in the cage and posted 16 blocks. NYAC scored just one goal and as happened throughout the game, Alumni WPC had an answer--this time by Daniel Lenhart. Showing just how deep the team is this season, Alumni WPC scored 8 goals from 8 different scorers. For the first time in Alumni WPC's relatively short history it defeated the historic NYAC by a score of 8-5.
ALUMNI WPC 5 v Los Angeles 6
After pulling the impressive upset, Alumni WPC did not have long to eat or rest and were back in the pool just a few hours later to take on the new club Los Angeles Athletic Club. LAAC was eager to pull an upset of its own after losing to Alumni WPC in the Championship game of the 2017 Winterfest Open Tournament in February.
The game proved to extremely defensive highlighted by the match up of the two more great goalies--Ely Bonilla USC/ALU and Garrett Danner UCLA/LAAC. Former Alumni WPC player Connor Virjee snuck one by Bonilla at the near post to put LAAC up 0-1, the only goal of the quarter.
In the second, Greg Enloe, assisted by Andrew Reego, struck for another goal from the post on a 6-on-5 to knot it up at 1. Matt Burton then hit Lance Morrison in two-meters who scored to take the lead. LAAC tied it back up but only before Burton would earn a goal of his own to close the half up 3-2.
Fatigue was evident as Alumni WPC played tired in the third and could not pull away. LAAC tied it again at 3 each. Nick Fadden had the longest goal of the weekend throwing a soft lob over Danner from half tank, but LAAC tied it again at 4 to finish the period.
Moving into the fourth quarter, Alumni WPC knew it had to rally to win the quarter to avoid being on the other side of an upset. LAAC struck first and in low-scoring game, Alumni WPC had to push. Late in the period, Reego fired a bar down to make it 5-5 with just a minute left. Unfortunately, LAAC Ryder Roberts found the back of the net before the final whistle to take the victory 5-6.
Griffin Lerman, UCI continues to lead all Alumni WPC scorers with 9 goals while being the heart and soul of the defense.
ALUMNI WPC 8 (4) v USA University 8 (1)
Andrew Reego, USC led all Alumni WPC scorers for the weekend with 6 goals including two important 5-meter goals in the USA University game victory.
After a good night's sleep, Alumni WPC was back in the pool for Day 2 against the very talented and, more important, well-conditioned USA University team. This team will represent the USA at the World University Games this summer. Furthermore, 2016 Olympians Thomas Dunstan, USC and McQuin Baron, USC both cap off its roster.
USA University came out swinging scoring on its first possession off a long pass to Alumni WPC player Ben Stevenson (who, because of remaining eligibility in college for UOP, has to play for a USA squad). USA University struck again to go up 0-2. Then, Wes Lincoln scored a crucial goal off a great pass from Lenhart to close the gap. Jack Wall netted one off an assist from Reego to tie it up. In an active quarter, USA University scored again, not long before Greg Enloe scored his third of the weekend. USA University scored again quickly making it 3-4 in just the first four minutes of the game. The defenses tightened and the first quarter finished 3-4.
In the second, USA University turned it back on and went on a decisive 3-goal run to go up 3-7. Fortunately, Kevin Witt had an answer off a great center play, assisted by Burton, and in the final seconds of the half made it 4-7.
Alumni turned it around in the second half. Aside from a mental error by Reego who left Stevenson wide open in front of the cage to make it 4-8, Alumni WPC defense was rock solid. Chay Lapin, showing his Olympic form, had another incredible game, posting 14 blocks and no other goals were scored in the third period.
Starting the fourth period, Alumni WPC understood the importance of earning the victory knowing it could drop as low as 5th place if it lost. As a result, the fourth quarter was Alumni WPC's best quarter of its entire history and earned the "Best Game of the Tournament" accolade by USA Water Polo as Alumni WPC went on a thrilling 4-0 run. Lance Morrison, who had a very solid weekend, started the onslaught from a perfect pass by Witt. Nick Jordan then drew a penalty which Reego put away. Griffin Lerman fired a rocket off a Nick Fadden assist and finally, Witt snuck in an incredible goal, his second of regulation. Alumni WPC had an opportunity in the final seconds to win the game in regulation, but Baron made the save ending the game in a 8-8 tie.
Tournament rules move ties into a penalty shoot out which featured 2012 Olympic goalie Chay Lapin, UCLA/ALU vs 2016 Olympic goalie McQuin Baron, USC/USAUNI. Lapin proved to be the victor as only one of the four USA University players found the back the net, while all four Alumni WPC shooters, Reego, Witt, Burton, and Lenhart each scored making it a decisive 4-1 shoot- out victory.
ALUMNI WPC 11 v USA Junior 7
At the last game of the long weekend, the stage was set: if Alumni WPC won its final game, it would finish 2nd overall to finish the regular season two places higher than last year. But this was one of the most difficult weekends of water polo for the Alumni WPC players as all four games were within 4 goals or less over the two days, Alumni WPC understood it could not let fatigue cost it another game.
As a result, Alumni WPC did not waste time. Daniel Lenhart scored two beautiful goals to quickly go up 2-0. Jack Wall then hit Griffin Lerman for Alumni WPC's third goal. USA Junior was able to gain back a little momentum before the quarter close making it 1-3. In the second, Lance Morrison drew a 5-meter on the USA Junior goalie and Andrew Reego put it away. USA Junior then scored an easy 6-on-5, but Lenhart was on fire scoring his third goal of the half to go back up by 3. USA Junior got one more, but Reego scored his second of the quarter off another penalty--this one drawn by Nick Jordan to make it 6-3 at half.
The scoring in the third period came quickly as Witt struck on Alumni WPC's first possession, but then USA Junior's scored on their first possession. Morrison helped secure the victory off an assist from Reego making it 8-4. USA Junior got one more before the third ended off a great shot from Alumni WPC's player Nikola Vavic's, USC/USC younger brother Marko Vavic.
Up 3 in the final period and with its strong defense and great goalie work by Ely Bonilla, Alumni WPC felt confident. Jake Young, Griffin Lerman, and Andrew Reego all scored in the quarter against USA Junior's two--one at the end of the game when victory was already in hand. With the 11-7 finish, Alumni WPC solidified its stellar finish in the 2017 USA National League regular season with a 2nd place seed going into the Finals April 1/2 at Woollett Aquatics Center.
| Eric Sturgeon, Griffin Lerman, Nick Jordan, Daniel Lenhart, Greg Enloe, Wes Lincoln, Mitze Zellmer, Ely Bonilla, Kevin Witt | Andrew Reego, Lance Morrison, Jack Wall, Jake Young, Jeremy Pope, Nick Fadden, Matt Burton, Robert Lynn | Chay Lapin
To see more pictures from the weekend please go see our new
Alumni Water Polo Club National League Tournament #2- Roster
GP G SH EX A S
1. Chay Lapin 3 - 42 blocks / 1 ass / 3 stl
2. Brian Kinsel 2 0 1 5 0 0
3. Kevin Witt 6 6 14 2 5 6
4. Nick Fadden 6 2 3 1 2 7
5. Griffin Lerman 6 9 27 3 1 13
6. Andrew Reego 6 8 24 4 6 8
7. Matt Burton 6 3 12 4 4 7
8. Jake Young 6 2 3 5 1 4
9. Greg Enloe 6 3 9 6 2 6
10. Nick Jordan 6 0 2 6 1 2
11. Lance Morrison 6 6 16 4 1 7
12. Jack Wall 4 2 12 3 2 4
13. Ely Bonilla 3 - 39 blocks / 3 ass / 2 stl
14. Daniel Lenhart 6 6 13 1 4 6
15. Wes Lincoln 6 2 5 1 0 3
16. Jeremy Pope 4 0 1 1 1 0
17. Mitze Zellmer 0 - 00 blocks / 0 ass / 0 stl
18. Brandon Brooks 0 - 00 blocks / 0 ass / 0 stl
Head Coach - Robert Lynn
Assistant Coach - Eric Sturgeon
Alternate Coach - Eric Black
Alumni Water Polo Club National League Tournament #2- Final Results
GAME #3-
ALUMNI WPC 08 | New York 5
Griffin Lerman 1, Greg Enloe 1, Matt Burton 1,
Kevin Witt 1, Daniel Lenhart 1, Andrew Reego 1,
Lance Morrison 1, Jake Young 1
Lance Morrison 1, Jake Young 1
| Chay Lapin 16 blocks
GAME #4-
ALUMNI WPC 05 | Los Angeles 6
Andrew Reego 1, Matt Burton 1, Nick Fadden 1,
Greg Enloe 1, Lance Morrison 1
| Ely Bonilla 12 blocks
GAME #5-
ALUMNI WPC 08(4)|USA University 8(1)
Kevin Witt 3, Andrew Reego 2, Greg Enloe 1,
Jack Wall 1, Lance Morrison 1, Griffin Lerman 1,
Daniel Lenhart 1, Matt Burton 1, Wes Lincoln 1
| Chay Lapin 14 blocks
GAME #6-
ALUMNI WPC 11 | USA Junior 7
Daniel Lenhart 3, Andrew Reego 3, Griffin Lerman 2,
Lance Morrison 1, Jake Young 1, Kevin Witt 1
| Ely Bonilla 15 blocks