On Friday, the Men's Water Polo team packed up and made the drive down to San Diego to compete in San Diego State's Aztec Invitational for the third time in the last four years. The Spartans came equipped with a full squad of 16 players, including most of our starters from the regular season.
On Saturday, the Spartans were not scheduled to play until 1 pm, so they used the free time to do some team bonding at the sunny San Diego beaches. When it came to game time, the Spartans squared off with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The Spartans came out strong, taking a    quick 3-1 lead, but fitness soon became an issue for the off-season Spartans. Cal Poly clawed their way to a 2 goal lead going into the fourth quarter. With just 3 minutes left, the Spartans still trailed 8-6, until Captain Jonathan Sotelo netted a clutch goal, followed immediately by a vicious outside shot from leading scorer Keanu Martinez. With the pair of unanswered goals, the Spartans evened the score and sent the game to OT. In the offseason format, the game was to be decided in sudden death. After a few empty possessions by both teams, Cal Poly scored to win the game on a soft, but perfectly placed shot into the top corner.
In game 2, the Spartans took on a very fit, motivated ARMY team. The game remained very even for the first 3 quarters, due in large part to the Spartans' heavy reliance on outside shots, which were just not falling. At the start of the 4th, the score was even at 7. Fitness again became an issue for the Spartans as ARMY pulled ahead with 3 unanswered counter attack goals. A bit demoralized, the Spartans allowed ARMY to net two more before they could regroup, putting the game effectively out of reach. With 4 minutes remaining in the quarter, the Spartans' usual bench players got a chance to get some extended playing time, and actually worked quite well as a unit, decreasing the deficit to a final score of 12-9, for the Spartans' second loss of the day.
With all games for the day completed, the Spartans regrouped with a team dinner, bonding, and a team trip to Downtown San Diego. Putting the two losses behind them and meshing much better as a team, the Spartans came into day two with an optimistic attitude. In game 1, against Santa Cruz Masters, the Spartans came out a bit slow, going down 4-1 at the end of the first. Not losing hope, the Spartans came back strong, evening the score at 5 by halftime. In a back-and-forth defensive battle, the score stayed steady at 7-7 going into the fourth, and 9-9 going into the last minute. Santa Cruz Masters had a chance to win on the last possession, but Jonney Ramos came up with a steal with 10 seconds left. Ramos heaved a pass down the pool to the sprinting Jonathan Sotelo, who did well to claim the pass before the goalkeeper could get the steal. Sotelo made a crafty move and earned a 5-meter penalty shot with 5 seconds left. Keanu Martinez stepped up to seal the game, and skipped the penalty shot under the keeper's arm sealing the win at 10-9.
After the win, the Spartans were set to square off with familiar friendly foes UC Davis, for the 7th place spot. The first quarter was another defensive gridlock. Taylor Franklin nailed a beautiful bar-in 5 meter goal to end the quarter, making it 1-1 going into the first break. The two teams continued to trade steals and goals equally, leading to a score of 4-4 going into the fourth quarter. The turning point came early in the fourth, when Sam Allmon put away a goal on the rebound of a missed shot, putting the Spartans up 5-4. From there, the Spartans never looked back. Leading scorer Keanu Martinez continued the late-game heroics for the third game of the tournament, netting back to back goals with 3:25 and 2:00 remaining in the game, ultimately securing a 7-5 win for the Spartans.
With the two wins on Sunday, the Spartans headed home happy, and prepared for our final three games of the season this Saturday (May 6th) at UC Santa Cruz.
