Water polo finishes fourth in hosted event

This weekend the Middlebury men’s water polo team played dual roles as hosts and underdogs, and very nearly added spoilers to their resume as well. The Panthers entered the Natatorium as the fifth seed in the New England Club Water Polo Championships determined to make a name for themselves on their home turf.  In the past two seasons, Middlebury placed eighth and seventh in the tournament, respectively, so the team had an eye on improvement and upsetting the heavyweights at the top of the rankings.
After losing their Saturday opener to the top-ranked and eventual tournament-winning Yale squad, the Panthers made noise by handily beating Wesleyan by a score of 9-4.  Wesleyan entered the tournament seeded fourth, yet was not properly prepared for the Panthers’ onslaught.
“Even though our team is mostly comprised of players with one or two years of experience, we learned to work well as a team,” said captain Jay Li ’11. Li continued to comment that “We were positive the whole tournament and never had our heads down even though we were facing some teams that had destroyed us in the beginning of the season.”
The Panthers’ positive attitude paid off in their upset, and they maintained it into their tough semi-final matchup against the second seed Dartmouth team on Sunday morning. Buoyed by the support of the home fans and playing the role of fearless underdogs, Middlebury stunned Dartmouth through three quarters by fighting them goal for goal. In the end, Dartmouth pulled out a victory that was much more taxing than they had originally anticipated.
“We played a really good game, we had them worried,” said Li. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the grueling battle against Dartmouth left them exhausted for their third-place match against Boston College. They were only allowed an hour of rest before their final bout. Earlier in the season the Middlebury pulled off a huge upset against Boston College, but could not repeat the feat again with a worn-down offense. Overall, the Panthers came away with fourth place and a gratifying sense of accomplishment.
“This weekend proved very successful as we showed the rest of the teams and our Middlebury fans that we can keep up with anybody,” said a proud Li. Things definitely appear to be looking up or the team, as they will be graduating only two seniors. Next season, all the first and second year players that Li was quick to praise will be more experienced and eager to build upon their success from this weekend.