The University of Redlands men's water polo team played host to one site of the Inland Empire Classic on Saturday and Sunday at the Thompson Aquatic Center. During the two-day tournament, the Bulldogs captured wins over Occidental College, Vanguard University, Caltech and Whittier College, while dropping just one game to UC Davis.
The Maroon and Gray opened the tournament against the Aggies of Davis with an unfortunately slow start. Redlands gave up eight straight goals before finally finding the back of the net. The team battled back but simply ran out of time, falling 7-13. Freshman center John Nietzel (Old Greenwich, CT) and senior driver Bo Sidhu (Indio, CA) recorded two goals apiece, while senior center-defender Andrew Smith-Jones (Annapolis, MD), freshman center Grant Harrington (Poway, CA), and freshman driver Tucker Creevy (Crofton, MD) provided one score each. Sophomore goalkeeper Jessie Gunther (Perris, CA) and freshman goalkeeper Tyler Abbott (Alta Loma, CA) shared duties in the cage, registering six and three saves, respectively.
Later that day, the Bulldogs faced off against the Tigers of Occidental in a non-conference matchup between the familiar foes. The Maroon and Gray dominated the scoreboard from the opening whistle, cruising to a 20-6 victory. Senior center Blake vanHartesvelt (Mercer Island, WA) and junior driver Jeff Parsons (Newark, CA) both contributed hat tricks, while junior driver Danny Boessenecker (Clayton, CA) and junior driver Shane Anderson (Riverside, CA) scored twice each. Ten other Bulldogs found the back of the net in the win.
On Sunday, Redlands came out on top against Vanguard in a competitive 12-9 battle. This time, senior center Brendan Meaney (Palm Desert, CA) posted his best showing of the tournament with a four-goal explosion. Parsons and Smith-Jones also supplied multi-goal performances with two apiece. Creevy, Anderson, vanHartsvelt, and senior driver Drew Fischer (Highland, CA) each supplied additional goals for the Bulldogs. Between the pipes, Abbott made five stops while Gunther provided one.
The Bulldogs wrapped up a solid weekend of competition with a 10-6 victory over SCIAC foe Whittier in a non-conference game. Redlands relied on another well-balanced attack as junior driver Cabot Ferrill (Poway, CA), Meaney and Smith-Jones each scored twice. In addition, Sidhu, Creevy, Nietzel and sophomore driver Patrick Roth (Cottonwood Heights, UT) found the back of the net once apiece. This time, Gunther led the goalkeeping duties with seven saves as Abbott contributed three.
Redlands (5-4) looks forward to facing great competition at the Aggie Shoot-out at UC Davis on Sept. 25-26. The Bulldogs take on California at 10:15 a.m. and Santa Clara University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, before facing off against host school Davis at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
