Welcome back for the second edition of The Club Beat. The response from last week was great, as I heard from a handful of club athletes who voiced their pleasure at finally being acknowledged in the Argus. It also came to my attention that I neglected to mention what is probably the most accomplished of all Wesleyan club sports: water polo. Big thanks go out to Ben Byers ’07 who brought this to my attention. Let’s consider the last beat a test run. I’ll always present a little bit of personal commentary, especially when club hockey gets started, but not quite as much as there was last week. As all these sports begin to get deeper into their seasons I’ll have quite a bit more specific info and game action to let you all in on.
Although I had previously heard something about Wes having a club water polo team, when I wrote the first beat this fact slipped my mind. The team is in the New England division, which also includes Tufts, Coast Guard, Yale, Williams, and Amherst. They had their first tournament a couple weekends ago at Yale and managed to beat Tufts and Coast Guard and then lost two close games to Yale and Williams (who are nationally ranked 4th and 11th respectively). The team is made up of a number of current and former varsity athletes in other sports, including captains Josh Tanz ’06 and Matt Brownstein ’07. They’ve even got a coach, Mac Clonan ’05, a Wesleyan alum who is back solely to coach water polo.
I was impressed to discover, thanks to Mr. Byers, that the team won the Division III club national title last year in San Antonio. What do you know? Out of all Wesleyan sports, our one national champ comes from the club ranks. If your reason for not supporting Wesleyan sports is the fact that none of our squads are very good, then you no longer have an excuse.
Here’s what’s on tap for the national champion club water polo team. Over fall break they’re playing in a tournament at Yale. Then on Oct. 29 and 30, Wes will be hosting the New England championships so everyone should definitely go check that out and show your support.
In other club sports action, rugby went on the road to battle Wheaton last Saturday. The team played a pretty solid game but lost due to a handful of costly mistakes that resulted in a number of Wheaton scores. This coming Saturday (Oct. 8), they’ll look to bounce back from a couple of tough losses with a home match at 1 p.m..
The club soccer team, headed by Jeff Clewell ’06 and Pat Garrity ’06, has their first game of the season on Saturday as well. The game is at 3 p.m. versus Dartmouth also at Long Lane field.
Not too much to report on as far as club hockey goes. We have our first practice this coming Sunday but no games scheduled until the end of the month so stay tuned for more info on that as it develops.
I’ve included the schedule for club water polo’s tourney at Yale over fall break. Why not make a weekend of it by going to visit your chums in New Haven and catching a little bit of Wes water polo while you’re at it.
Thanks a lot for checking out this edition of The Club Beat, see ya next time.
WES WATERPOLO @ YALE
Saturday, October 15, 2005
12 p.m. Yale University vs Williams College
1:15 p.m. U. S. Coast Guard Academy vs Wesleyan University
2:30 p.m. Tufts University vs Amherst College
4:15 p.m. U. S. Coast Guard Academy vs Williams College
5:30 p.m. Wesleyan University vs Tufts University
7:15 p.m. Williams College vs Amherst College
8:30 p.m. Yale University vs U. S. Coast Guard Academy
Sunday, October 16, 2005
9 a.m. Wesleyan University vs Amherst College
10:15 a.m. Yale University vs Tufts University
12 p.m. Wesleyan University vs Williams College
1:15 p.m. Tufts University vs U. S. Coast Guard Academy
2:30 p.m. Yale University vs Amherst College
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