Polo falls below .500 with two road losses

By JOE TONE

After pushing its record to above .500 for the first time in the history of the program last week in Santa Cruz, women's water polo faltered Saturday to fall to 4-5 in what has been an inconsistent start to the season.

The Broncos, who opened 0-2 before winning four of five at the Santa Cruz Slugfest two weekends ago, dropped a pair of road games to CSU Bakersfield and Cal Baptist in Bakersfield.

"It's not physical," senior Regina Dinneen said. "It's more mental."

Dinneen, who was second on the Broncos with 42 goals last season after transferring from West Valley Junior College in San Jose, feels youth is playing a part in her team's inconsistency.

"We have two or three freshmen starting for us," she said. "We haven't developed a good understanding of how each other plays."

The Broncos got off to a slow start in both the losses. They fell behind early in their game against Bakersfield, and went on to lose to the Roadrunners.

"We've been doing that all season," senior Lara Williams said. "We start slow and then come back at the end."

The Broncos faltered at the start against Cal Baptist as well. They managed to make a late surge, but still came up short, losing 10-8.

"That was a much, much stronger game," Williams said.

The Broncos will enjoy their first home action of the season this weekend when they take on Cal State Hayward.

"We're advertising [for fan-support] a little," Dinneen said. "Unless Hayward has gotten a lot better since last year É they were horrible."