If you think that the Red Sox coming back in last year’s ALCS is the most recent sports miracle to rock the Wesleyan world, then you weren’t in New Haven last weekend. On Sunday, during Yale’s annual water polo tournament, the club water polo team earned a comeback win for the ages. After beating Amherst, Coast Guard and Tufts earlier in the weekend, the Cards faced off against Williams, a team they hadn’t beaten in three years and had lost six times in a row overall.
Slow starts marred the team all weekend, and it was no different in the match against Williams, the tenth ranked team in the country. By the time the first period ended Williams was up six goals to none. Things did not get much better in the second period because when the halftime buzzer sounded, the Cardinals found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 score.
When it looked like Williams was going to dominate the rest of the match, a fiery speech by Coach Mac Clonan during halftime rallied the troops and got the ball rolling to begin the second half.
During the third period, Wesleyan clawed their way back into the game with a greater focus on defense. Goalie Mike Molina ’07 keyed much of this renewed defensive intensity, as the keeper stopped eight of eleven shots after the first period and allowed only two goals in the second half.
“He [Captain Matt Brownstein ’07] stifled opposing offenders at the 2 meter position, collecting 4 steals in a suffocating defensive effort,” Clonan said.
As the third period ended, Wesleyan was still in a tough spot, trailing 8-4 with only one period left to overcome the deficit.
“Going into the fourth, we knew we were going to have to pull out all the stops to win,” said Ben Byers ’07 after the match.
The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 9-8 going into the game’s final minutes. With just under two minutes to play, Brownstein scored the game-tying goal on an extra-man advantage. After climbing all the way back from a 7-1 halftime deficit against the tenth ranked team in the country, a moral victory may have been on the horizon even if things didn’t continue to go their way. But to the Eph’s dismay, Wesleyan wouldn’t have a heartbreaking loss that needed rationalizing.
With 45 seconds left in the fourth, Captain Josh Tanz ’06 netted the go-ahead goal on an extra-man advantage. This capped an impressive three-goal day for the senior captain, and catapulted the team to an astounding 10-9 victory.
This coming weekend, the team will look to stay on a roll at the Williams Invitational Tournament. Then, on the weekend of Oct. 28, Wes will be hosting the New England Championships.
“For all of you who are always down to see a good ol’ fashioned Williams’s ass whooping, come on over to Freeman the weekend of the 28, you’ll be in for a treat,” Brownstein said.
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