Sagehen alumni just couldn’t stay away, returning to Haldeman Pool to face off against the current Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) men’s water polo team on Saturday, Sept. 21. This year’s rendition of the annual tradition brought a wide age range of former Hens back to the nest, with alumni spanning from graduates from the 1950s all the way to the class of 2024.
The game began with a special rule for those returning to the pool: the first two alumni goals would count as two points each, an advantage the graduates later proved they didn’t need.
Noah Sasaki PO ’21 — part of the 2021 DIII national championship team — capitalized on this and put two in the back of the net while also adding a pair of assists, helping control the alumni’s offensive production.
Throughout the match, alumni and current players tossed friendly banter around the pool, with occasional shoves in the water and taunts from alumni to upperclassmen for big misses or blunders.
“Even though it’s an alumni game, it’s supposed to be fun,” Sasaki said. “I think we wanted it to also be good practice … the expectation is to try and be as competitive as possible.”
The alumni held to those words, with a few of them executing hat-tricks throughout the game. Their competitiveness gave them the lead throughout the game, outscoring the current team by 13 points within three quarters, totaling a score of 20-7.
The current team, aware of the quality of the alumni roster, used the opportunity to their advantage to gain skills that would help them later in the season.
“A lot of them were on the team that won the championship in 2021 so they’re still very good players,” Zach Whitfield PO ’27 said. “I feel like we learned a lot from how they played.”
Whitfield secured himself a hat-trick, helping P-P fight back against the unrelenting pressure from his predecessors.
A twist came before the start of the fourth quarter: the opposing teams agreed to reset the scoreboard, wiping out the two-point advantage held by the alumni team at the time.
As the game moved toward a tense conclusion, the teams went head-to-head, and eventually, P-P team emerged victorious with a 6-4 score.
A fantastic final quarter heard additional applause, but not for fancy plays or acrobatic saves — the whole pool deck cheered for one name: John Christopher Miller PO ’59, the oldest player on the alumni roster, who carried a positive attitude into the game.
“I played three years of swimming and one year of water polo, my senior year, last man on all the teams, but had fun on all of them,” Miller said. “I had no expectations, just here for fun.”
The alumni stayed for some time after the game to connect with current players, provide additional coaching and mentor the future of the team.
“You want to make sure that you’re putting in the most effort that you can, especially for the seniors. It’s your last year,” Sasaki said. “You want to leave everything in the pool and go out on a high note.”
Meanwhile, Miller kept it simple.
“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”
The Sagehens, who currently hold a 2-0 record in SCAIC, will host the Gary Troyer Tournament on Oct. 4 and 5 before returning to SCIAC action with a game against Occidental College on Oct. 9.
Facebook Comments