Men’s Water Polo Smacks University of Connecticut

The men’s water polo club hosted its first tournament of the season last Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23 and 24. After just nine days of practice, the Panthers had a packed schedule, playing two games each day against fellow New England Club Division members.

“Water polo is a fun sport because it’s a lot of hard work, but in all the years I’ve played it’s always been with a great group of guys,” said team captain Kevin Benscheidt ’17.5, who has played the sport for more than a decade now. This tournament marks the beginning of his fifth and final season at Middlebury.

“We have only two new players and lost quite a few last year, so [this is] going to be a team where a lot of people step up,” Benscheidt said of Middlebury’s 11-person squad. “Part of that is learning how to play better together.”

The Panthers faced Boston College at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23. Middlebury’s only goal that half came from Benscheidt, and by halftime, Middlebury was trailing 10–1.

If it weren’t goalie Diego Espino ’19 who helped keep the Eagles at bay with a couple of standout saves, the score would have been worse.

Middlebury found a way to score five goals in the second half, in spite of Boston College’s much deeper bench.

Sam Van Lokeren ’21 led the charge in the second half, scoring the first goal of his Middlebury career on a power play in the third quarter. Van Lokeren soon added another goal to his record, and Benscheidt contributed two goals to the effort. David Cohen ’20 took advantage of a man-up situation to make the score 6–13.

“We play in a league that has a lot of [Division I] teams,” Benscheidt ’17.5 explained. “So what typically happens is [that we get] our butts kicked every once in awhile, but [we] just [take] a lesson from it every time.”

Middlebury kept that in mind for its 6 p.m. game against the University of Connecticut later that day. The Panthers got off to a fast start as Aidan Strayer ’19.5 won the opening sprint.

Nick Handali ’20 capitalized on a six-on-five opportunity in the first quarter, which ended at a 1–1 standstill. Then Cohen was able to put Middlebury ahead 2–1 just before the half.

Cohen helped lead the scored four more in the second half — one from a man-up situation in the third quarter and one on a penalty shot in the fourth.

“[We] didn’t really pull away until the last quarter,” Benscheidt said. “Finally … we were really stringing things together and I think playing as we should.”

Middlebury’s other goals came from Benscheidt (1), Greyson Zatzick ’20 (1), Van Lokeren (4), and Taylor Moore ’18 (2).

On Sunday, Sept. 24 at 9 a.m., Middlebury lost 7–11 to Yale.

However, Middlebury won the first quarter 3–1. Benscheidt ’17.5 scored twice in right away, and Van Lokeren was able to score on a power play.

“We had an awesome first quarter. It was very technically sound playing. Then things kind of started falling apart. A lot of it has to do with fitness.”

The Panthers fought to score four more goals that day. Benscheidt had one more goal, Van Lokeren had two more, and Strayer scored Middlebury’s seventh in the final minute of play.

Middlebury fell to Boston University (6–14) in its final game on Sunday, Sept. 24. Goals came from Cohen (2), Benscheidt (1), Van Lokeren (2) and Moore (1).

“We’ve had quarters that are really solid, but we haven’t [been able to string] it together for a full game,” Benscheidt said.

This time, Middlebury was able to outscore Boston University 3–1 in the third quarter.

“I don’t think people were really meant to play four water polo games in a weekend,” Benscheidt said. “But because we’re a club program we have to consolidate all of our league play into three weekends of intensity.”

With a 1–3 record, Middlebury is now ranked sixth out of the eight teams in its division. The Panthers will have a week to prepare for its next tournament at Yale University on Oct. 7 and 8.

“The game plan is to build to [nationals],” Benscheidt explained. “When we play teams from schools of similar sizes, things tend to click into place.”

The Panthers are set to host the Division III National Collegiate Club Championship at the Natatorium on Oct. 28 and 29, which gives them an automatic bid regardless of this season’s results.