The Dartmouth Water Polo Club went into the Eastern Water Polo Association Championships at Williams with high hopes of playing in the finals and qualify for the National Championships at Buffalo next weekend.
Unfortunately, the Big Green realized neither goal after a hard fought weekend.
"We had very high expectations going into this season after our strong finish at the National Club Championships last year," Jamie Keenan '96 said.
In the end, Dartmouth just lacked needed experience to pull through with the win.
"The weakness of the teams in our league leaves us unprepared for the tougher competition we face in post-season. Hopefully next year, we will move to a different league and be better prepared for the post-season."
Dartmouth had the unique distinction of being the only club with two teams invited to the championships. The B team played several strong games, opening up against Trinity College.
Carlos Corti '98 contributed two goals while Matt Brennan '98, Anne Souter '96, Jeff Tam Sing '98, Joe Fitzgerald '98 and Tuck student Chase Parker contributed one goal apiece in their 14-7 loss to Trinity.
The team's next game was against Yale University, a former varsity level team who beat the A team last year. The B squad stayed close finishing the first half one goal behind Yale with a 5-4 deficit. But the B team was overpowered in the second half as Yale's depth kicked in.
The Big Green ended the game with a solid performance, losing 15-7 demonstrating the strength of the Dartmouth program as well as showing the improvement in the depth of the team.
The B team finished the tournament by destroying Bowdoin, jumping out to a 10-2 first half lead en route to a 20-3 victory behind seven points by Parker, four by Corti, five by David Rosman '98 and three by Brennan.
The A-team played the opposite role, winning its first two games before falling to the eventual EWPA champion in the tightest game of the tournament.
Dartmouth A opened with an 18-7 victory over Wesleyan. As usual, the team was led by offensive powerhouses Brent Boehlert '98 with seven points and Jon Kenyon '97 with five points.
In the next game against Trinity, the Big Green dominated every aspect of the game, moving out to a 12-2 lead at the half.
The second half saw offensive weapon Kenyon in the goal, doing a rather potent job. The combination of Boehlert and Kenyon scored six points and five points respectively, while graduate student K.C. Nowak scored four goals en route to the 28-7 Dartmouth win.
The two early wins placed the Big Green in the semi-final round against Williams Going in, Dartmouth looked strong and a win was expected.
From the beginning the game was tight, but while Kevin O'Neil '97 played a strong game in the goal and the defense effectively reigned in the Williams offense, the Big Green was unable to break through Williams' defense.
In a low scoring competition, the Big Green fell to Williams 8-7 and ended the tournament in third place, which was not good enough to earn them a bid to the national championships next weekend.
"The season had its ups and downs," Kenyon said. "Unfortunately the inability to win the close games hurt us in the end. It's unfortunate for the seniors, but hopefully the team has gained the experience necessary for greater successes in the future."
The club still has spring season to look forward to though, and perhaps a return to the national championships in 1996.
"The sign of a strong team is its ability to recover from set backs and no one on this team isn't looking forward to next year's season," Howie Silverman '97 said. "We have a young team, and all but one of our starters will be returning in 1996."
