By Christian Vieyra (@thecvieyra) – Co-Executive Editor | San Jose State goalkeeper Brendon Gyapjas extends his body for the block in a 14-3 win over George Washington University Thursday at the Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center. (photo by Nick Orozco – Co-Executive Editor of The Spear)
San Jose State men’s water polo beat George Washington University 14-3 in convincing fashion at home Thursday and now turns its sights to West Coast Conference play.
Last season saw SJSU crowned WCC champions and this season they look to repeat and more.
“We are not underdogs anymore, so it’s a little pressure on us,” sophomore goalkeeper Brendon Gyapjas said.
Gyapjas was the sole goalie voted to the WCC’s Men’s Water Polo Preseason Team by the conference’s head coaches.
But head coach Gabor Sarusi believes his squad has the ability to win.
“I think the confidence is there because they already know how to win and that’s something that you need to learn over the years,” Sarusi said. “ There’s a lot of good teams in our conference and to be honest between four and five teams, anybody can win.”
The Spartans (3-1, 0-0 WCC) have added 12 new players, but thankfully for Sarusi, they retained the majority of their championship winning starters.
“We were pretty good in defense, considering just three goals for a game is really good,” SJSU junior Mateja Bosić said. “But also those three goals were preventable.”
Bosić led the Spartans with five points in the matchup with two goals and three assists over the Revolutionaries. He was the first SJSU player to score in the match.
SJSU still had a job to do with conference play looming over this game. Win.
“We’ve been preparing for Santa Clara, which is our first league game tomorrow, that’s a little bit more important game,” Sarusi said. “So I didn’t really know which team was going to show up today, but they definitely came up and showed that we have a good team this year.”
The leadership of this team knows the most important games have yet to come.
“Our goal is to win conference obviously and we’re not hiding that we want to do the same thing like last year and qualify for NCAA,” Bosić said. “We will not be scared of anyone, but also we will respect everybody.”
Sarusi said the Spartans have to keep improving as the play in the beginning season is not going to define their overall season.
Eric Ellison, Giancarlo Marquez and Jamie Steingraf also recorded two goals each.
Hamish Bonnar, Luke Burns, Erik Duesund, Louis Fehrensen, Mitchell Keightley and Louis Fehrensen also got in on the goal barrage, notching one each.
Gyapjas had 12 saves in the game and allowed only two goals and played a little over two and half periods.
“We were lucky to have him,” Sarusi said. “He’s probably the best goalie in the NCAA.”
Conference play begins at 2 p.m. Friday for SJSU, with a cross-county trip to Santa Clara, its sixth game in seven days.
