New Partnership With Sheraton

The Univeristy of La Verne men's water polo team opened their 2009 season with a double-header Saturday morning at Chapman University. Despite their best efforts, the Leopards would drop 13-8 final against Chapman and a 14-11 finish against Whittier College.

La Verne took an early 2-0 lead against Chapman thanks to goals from Emerson Gant and Jonathan Wallace. Wallace scored again in the second quarter, and teammate Arturo Villalpando would also add a goal, but the Panthers got back on track and score 8 to take an four goal lead at end of the half.

The Leopards were the first to strike in the second half with an Andrew MacKay goal, but Chapman would answer back with three more goals of their own in the third quarter. Errol Stump, Sean Steele and John Roche found the back of the net in the final quarter, but it would not be enough, as the Panthers would take a 13-8 victory.

In the second match against Whittier, the Leopards came out firing, taking a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter after two goals from Villalpando and a goal each from Roche, Steele, and Matthew McDowell. Steele would add score again while Mark Wilson bumped up the Leopards' total with a late quarter goal. La Verne took a 7-4 lead heading into halftime.

La Verne's scoring slowed in the second half as MacKay was the only one to find the back of the net. Whittier picked up its play, scoring five goals in the third quarter, and tacking on five more in the final quarter. While Wilson would add one more goal in between Villalpando's two fourth quarter goals, but it would not be enough, as the Poets would steal a 14-11 game.

Villalpando lead the Leopards in scoring with five goals between the two games. Steele tallied three, while Wilson, Wallace, MacKay and Roche finished with two each.

La Verne will participate in the Inland Empire Tournament next weekend, facing UC Davis and University of the Pacific as well as SCIAC opponents Claremont Mudd-Scripps and Occidental. The Leopards will begin play at 9:00am.