Cal State Monterey Bay women’s water polo coach Gary Figueroa believes his team will be able to improve on its record last year, and since the team finished 18-18 overall and 6-10 in conference, that mean’s a winning season, which would be a first for the young program. Saturday the team will begin the 2008 season with a match against Cal Maritime Academy at the CSUMB pool at 10 a.m.
“We’ve got a good group,” says Figueroa, a member of the U.S Water Polo Hall of Fame and a silver medalist at the ’84 Olympics. “Each year the size of the group is growing and we’re gaining more depth.”
Figueroa says the addition of freshmen Nikki Smart, Chloe McCrae and Kristin Prosser will help a tight-knit bunch of veterans led by All-American Chelsea Laning on offense and goal keeper Jenna Beer on defense.
Laning has 384 career goals in the NCAA, a record. Last year she led all NCAA divisions in scoring with 140 goals. She was named CSUMB’s female athlete of the year in 2007. “She’s definitely our big threat on offense,” said Figueroa. “And Jenna is our defensive leader. She’s a really smart goalie, she understands shooters.”
“And she really knows how to win,” says assistant coach Sherrie Vignau, pointing out that Beer led her team to the state championship game twice while she was at Long Beach City College and her team won in 2004.
Beer, said Figueroa, is the vocal leader of a team that plays good defense as a unit. “Our team defense is a strength. The team really plays well together. There is a strong comraderie amongst them. I think the team is growing together well, and that will help us.”
Figueroa says his team is very smart, it even has set academic goals for itself. “That was the girls’ idea, not the coaches’ idea – trying to get more than 50 percent of the team at 3.0 or better.”
Figueroa also points to experience. The team has seven seniors; Christy Thompson is one of those and both coaches say her competitive leadership is a boon. “She’s kind of like a point guard, quarterback and head cheerleader all rolled into one,” said Figueroa. “She’s really key for us.”
All of this combined should make for an exciting season for the Otters. “This team is working hard. They always come to practice and work hard,” said Figueroa. “To keep improving is our goal. We want to have a winning season and we’d also like to improve our finish in the conference.”