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Colorado State University Athletics
CSU water polo heads back to West Coast
3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
March 6, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Rams (4-10, 4-3 WWPA) will travel this weekend to Los Angeles for the Loyola Marymount Lion Invitational. Eight teams, including several of the Rams' confrence foes, will be competing for two days. The team with the best record will determine the tournament winner. Each team will play four games, two Friday and two Saturday. All games are at Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center. The full schedule:
Friday (all times Pacific):
8:30 a.m. Loyola Marymount vs. Colorado State
9:40 a.m. Cal State Bakerfield vs. Sonoma State
10:50 a.m. UC Davis vs. UC San Diego
12:00 p.m. Chapman vs. Colorado State
1:10 p.m. Loyola Marymount vs. Santa Clara
2:20 p.m. Cal state Bakersfield vs. UC San Diego
3:30 p.m. Chapman vs. Sonoma State
4:40 p.m. UC Davis vs. Santa Clara
Saturday (all times Pacific):
8:30 a.m. Colorado State vs. UC Davis
9:40 a.m. Cal State Bakersfield vs. Santa Clara
10:50 a.m. UC San Diego vs. Sonoma State
12:00 p.m. Loyola Marymount vs. UC Davis
1:10 p.m. Cal State Bakersfield vs. Chapman
2:20 p.m. UC San Diego vs. Santa Clara
3:30 p.m. Colorado State vs. Sonoma State
4:40 p.m. Loyola Marymount vs. Chapman
RAMS CAN DO DAMAGE IN CONFERENCE Colorado State is 4-3 in the Western Water Polo Association. With each game, the Rams continue to play together and play at a level Head Coach John Mattos knows they can reach.
This weekend the Rams will face Loyola Marymount, Chapman, UC Davis, and Sonoma State, all of which are conference foes.
No. 11 Loyola Marymount is the WWPA defending champion. The Lions are 4-7 overall and are coming off a rough weekend at the UC Irvine Tournament, where they were defeated by No. 9 Arizona, No. 1 UCLA, No. 4 Hawaii, and No. 7 San Jose State. Head Coach John Loughran is in his 11th season with the Lions. The Rams will have to play tough with junior Nicole Hughes, who has 23 goals this season.
Chapman (4-2) has played just six games on the year (they host UC Santa Cruz tonight). The team's leading scorer is utilty junior Jennifer Manship.
No. 7 UC Davis was chosen by coaches to win the 2008 WWPA; the team won the title in 2006 and earned the preseason nod in the poll by one vote in front of the defending champion, Loyola Marymount.
Sonoma State has a 6-6 overall record. The Rams faced the Seawolves last weekend at the UC Santa Cruz Slugfest. The Rams beat the Seawolves 12-8, perhaps their best contest this season. Samantha Burchard is the leading scorer this season with 23 goals for the Seawolves. Head coach Coralie Simmons is in her first season, after previously serving as an assistant at UCLA and Hawaii. Simmons brings a wealth of national and international experience to Sonoma State's water polo program.
SLUGFEST RECAP
Colorado State finished last weekend's tournament 2-2, improving its overall season record to 4-10. All four weekend games were against conference foes, and the Rams' Western Water Polo Association mark now stands at 4-3.
CSU picked up its third win of the season in the opener, hosted by UC Santa Cruz, on Saturday morning. But the Rams couldn't pull out their second game, and finished Day 1 of the two-day competition with a 1-1 record.
The team's two contests Sunday were very different. Like Saturday, the Rams got off to a great start in the morning but couldn't capitalize on the positive momentum and lost in the afternoon. CSU was pleased with its win over Sonoma State Sunday morning.
"We totally controlled the game from the start," said assistant head coach Mike Moody. "We got good leadership, and everybody turned in quality minutes. It was easily one of our most complete efforts this year."
Annie Quinn scored five times and Krystyna McCright registered nine saves, as Colorado State knocked off the Seawolves, 12-8.
Despite following the same pattern each day, winning the first game and losing the afternoon contest, Moody said the Rams weren't tired. Their issues weren't physical. They were mental.
"We didn't come out to play," he said. "Each of the two losses we could've won. We controlled Sonoma State from start to finish. It was our game the entire time. When our girls play at that level, can play with anyone. Against Santa Clara, mentally, we didn't show up."
