Trailing by one point with 4.7 seconds left and a chance to tie, the Oregon Club Sports men’s water polo team couldn’t find a way to score and ended up fourth place in its division championship tournament in Eugene.
The close loss came to Western Washington in the third-place match. Oregon beat Washington State and lost to Oregon State on Saturday in route to its fourth-place finish.
The team kicked off the tournament by facing Washington State on Saturday. The Cougars dominated early and led the Ducks 7-5 going into the fourth quarter. But the Ducks weren’t ready to give up and came storming back to a 9-7 victory.
In Oregon’s second match Saturday, Oregon State proved to be a better team by taking advantage of opportunities.
“We fought hard, but our shots were just not going in,” team coordinator Anthony Tran said.
After going 1-1 on Saturday, the Ducks faced Western Washington on Sunday in the consolation game. In the first quarter, neither team could get a solid lead, but the Vikings pulled away to lead 10-5 entering the fourth quarter. But again, the Oregon men weren’t ready to give up.
“We knew we could play better than this, and we all decided to get our heads into this game,” Tran said.
The Ducks shut down the Western Washington offense for the rest of the game giving their offense a chance to come back. The Oregon offense scored four more goals during the quarter to make the score 10-9 near the end. The Ducks got their final chance to win when they forced a turnover with only 4.7 seconds left. Oregon took a time out and then ran a last-second play to Jeff Lee with the game on the line, but to no avail as his shot sailed over the crossbar.
“I was proud of my team to be able to stay cool and not fall apart in the closing minutes,” Tran said. “If we had had that intensity the entire game, it would have been a win.”
Oregon’s success was made possible with help from the tough play of Matt Baumann and Lee, as well as goalie Aaron Hilsen. Freshmen Sam Bilbro, Aaron Goldman and Josh Leitner also performed well during the tournament, Tran said. The three freshmen should be an important part of men’s water polo success in the future.

Women’s ultimate

downs competition
The Club Sports women’s ultimate team also hosted a tournament at home last weekend and came away on top of the visiting competition.
Competition included Western Washington, Oregon State, the Washington Huskies and Pacific Lutheran University. The Beavers were the only team that challenged the Ducks, but Oregon managed hold on to win.