By Anfisa Pitchkhadze – Spear Reporter | SJSU men’s water polo huddling up during a match against George Washington University on Sept. 19 (Photo by Nick Orozco – Co-Executive Editor of The Spear)
No. 12 San Jose State men’s water polo (5-3, 1-1 WWC) hosted No. 4 Pacific (10-0, 1-0 WWC) in its second WWC matchup that resulted in a 14-6 loss at home.
The Spartans kept pace in the first period with goals from sophomore Louis Fehrensen and driver Mateja Bosić to lead 2-0.
SJSU struggled offensively throughout the game. SJSU head coach Gabor Sarusi said that the lack of defense played a vital role in the loss.
The Pacific Tigers went on a 5-0 scoring run that went into the second period to make the score 5-2.
Sarusi said that the team made a lot of mental mistakes which led to the decline of the offense that the team needs to fix during the season.
Pacific would go on to dominate most of the game through their attacking offense.
Tigers senior Reuel D’Souza put on an impressive performance putting up three goals along with three assists.
Jeremie Cote, Olivér Fodor, Mihailo Vukazic and Ori Buzaglo each added two goals also contributing to the Tigers powered offense.
In the third period, the Spartans managed to gain back momentum trailing 6-5 with 5:05 left with a goal from Mael Suchet.
The team would only go on to score one more goal from Austin Hexter with 6:54 left in the final period.
Pacific dominated in the final period and outscored San Jose State 5-1.
“We’re playing against teams that have a lot of experience and success in years and they don’t make those mistakes,” Sarusi said.
Sarusi said that the team needs to clean up the mistakes to play better in the next match.
“We need to get back to our defensive mindset that won the championship last year and hopefully we can correct in a few practices that we have,” Sarusi said.
The Spartans have a week’s rest until they play their next match on the road in the Harvard Invitational. The first match against Bucknell is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 19.
