The Oregon men’s club water polo team punched its ticket to the national tournament for the second consecutive year after a clean sweep of the Northwest Regional Nov. 5-6. The team outscored its opponents 75-26 and avenged its only league loss of the season by defeating Washington in the championship match.
The Ducks are seeded in the middle of the pack at nationals, but are confident they can make some noise with their high-powered offense and tough-nosed defense.
Only one berth in the national tournament was at stake at the Willamalane Pool in Springfield, and with a league record of 11-1, the Ducks entered regionals as the No. 2 seed. Oregon’s first match came against the University of Portland, but the Pilots were swamped in short order. Oregon tallied seven unanswered goals in the first quarter on the way to a 22-4 rout. Eight Ducks scored at least two goals in the total team effort.
The club woke early the next day to start a grueling schedule that featured three matches. Oregon kicked off the day against in-state rival Oregon State. The Ducks shot out of the gate again, sprinting to a seven-goal lead at halftime and a 17-9 victory. Tom Leach and Matt Sillaman came up big for Oregon, each recording a hat trick.
Western Washington jumped into the pool and was promptly blown out of the water. Thirteen different Ducks found the net in the match as Oregon ran away with a 25-4 win. With the result, the Ducks earned a spot in the championship match against the Huskies, who similarly breezed through the early rounds.
“It’s difficult to go from a lopsided game to a game that really matters,” Oregon head coach Stephen Imperiale-Hagerman said.
The Ducks rose to the level of their opponent, eager to atone for the lone blemish on their league record, an 11-8 loss on October 22. Down three goals after the first quarter, Washington refused to go quietly, clawing its way back to tie the match in the third. Mark Welch, who found himself in foul trouble for most of the match, took over the final period, scoring three times in four minutes.
“He’s the guy we look to to make things happen,” Imperiale-Hagerman said.
Freshman Trapper Felt shut down the leading Husky scorer, who fouled out of the contest. Sillaman provided a defensive presence in the middle in addition to blocking a key penalty shot late in the game as Oregon held on for an 11-9 victory and its second straight regional title.
“We started to understand each other’s roles. The team came together,” Imperiale-Hagerman said.
The Ducks will now fly east to Williamstown, Mass., for the national club championship Nov. 18-20. Oregon begins this year’s tournament as it ended the last one. Seeds at nationals are determined by the previous season’s order of finish, giving the Ducks the eighth seed in the single elimination, 16-team tournament. This sets up a first-round match with Georgetown University, champions of the Atlantic Division. Should the Ducks advance, they will face the winner of the match between the first and 16th seeds.
“In order to win you have to face No. 1,” Imperiale-Hagerman said. “We just have to face them a little earlier than we’d like.”
Despite the tough draw, Oregon is optimistic about going deep into the tournament.
“We have the firepower to make an upset,” Imperiale-Hagerman said. “We just need to make it happen.”