Last season, the Cal men’s water polo team lost one of its major offensive contributors in senior attacker Marin Balarin.
After losing the star center who played at the two-meter mark, the squad needed to find a different alternative to be able to play to its strengths.
After a few weeks of preseason training, the Bears now know exactly how to do just that: focus on their defense and transition to the counterattack.
“That’s one of our biggest strengths as a group,” said senior team captain Collin Smith. “We’re a team based on our defense that leads into that counterattack — it’s something we’ve always known about ourselves.”
This weekend, Cal will have the perfect platform to test where they are as a group to jumpstart the squad’s 2013 season. At the Triton Invitational beginning this Saturday, the Bears will go head-to-head against Redlands at 12:30 p.m. and later host No. 11 UC San Diego at 4:30 p.m. at Triton Pool.
On Sunday morning, the team will take on No. 13 Loyola Marymount at 9:30 a.m., and later No. 17 UC Davis in the afternoon.
Despite facing three of the nation’s top-20 squads, the Bears — who are ranked fourth in both the CWPA and MPSF Preseason Polls — do not seem to be worried.
“I think they’re in a pretty good place,” said Cal coach Kirk Everist. “They’re going to be a little broken down and tired this weekend because of school starting, but we’re looking to go deep into the bench to make sure we’ll get a lot of looks from different players in a competitive environment that’s not us.”
With 17 Bears making the trip down to San Diego, Everist anticipates being able to frequently swap out players on the travel team to find the best seven-player rotations. Among those competing this weekend are senior attacker Smith, who led the Bears with 61 goals and 31 steals last season, and junior Aleksa Saponjic — a bronze medalist who played for the Serbian National Team in the 2012 London Olympics.
Cal’s top two scorers will be joined by senior utility Ayal Keren, as well as a pair of freshman recruits in Chandler Jarrels-Stickney and Thomas Carroll.
For the past week, the Bears have specifically focused on running defensive plays that follow six-on-six and five-on-six match situations. After incorporating several of the defenses they plan on running on game days, the squad practices scoring early in transition.
Heading into their first weekend matches, the Bears are not so much looking at their competition as they are focusing on building a strong defense in front of experienced returning goalies Michael Boggan and Jon Sibley. Once Cal can establish a formidable team defense to push the squad into the offensive counterattack, the Bears are confident that they will find consistent success throughout the season.
“We’re still looking for those two meter men — and they’ll be there, but definitely most of our goals are going to come off of our transition in the counterattack,” Smith said. “This weekend will be a good experience for the newcomers and for us as a whole — we’re looking to start ourselves out on a good note and prepare ourselves for the rest of the season.”
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].