San Jose State’s men’s water polo team lost to No. 4 University of the Pacific, 13-8, Saturday in a Golden Coast Conference matchup.
The Spartans (7-18, 1-4 GCC) had a tough time keeping up with the different play style the Tigers (16-3, 5-0 GCC) brought to the game.
Junior driver Justin Pickering said the Pacific played a specific defense called Japanese press that caused immense pressure on SJSU’s offense.
The Japanese press style is performing intensive pressing on defense and causing counter attacks that cause one-on-one plays, according to Waterpolo Development World.
“We practiced [adjusting to that style of defense] for a few days in practice, but as you can see from our first half we weren’t really ready for it making us go down 7-1,” Pickering said.
The Spartans looked excellent in the first quarter of play, holding the Tigers to only two goals making it a 2-1 game in Pacific’s favor.
The initially close game took a turn, however, when SJSU’s offense collapsed in the second quarter, putting up no goals to match the five that the University of the Pacific tallied.
Head coach Bruce Watson said that the plan for the game was to counter the Tigers’ shooters, but it was more difficult than it seemed.
“We had to come up with a pretty specific game plan because they have the best shooters in the country and it was difficult to shut them all down,” Watson said.
The high-intensity shooters from the Tigers helped pave the 5-0 quarter win for the Pacific, but the Spartans also fell into foul trouble during the second quarter.
“In the second quarter we had some difficulties with exclusions and people in danger of getting third exclusions which means you’re excluded for the whole game, so we had to be careful,” sophomore 2-meter man Niels Hofmeijer said.
The second quarter struggles ended up being the downfall for the Spartans.
SJSU outscored the Pacific 3-2 in the third quarter and tied 4-4 in the final quarter.
If the second quarter had ended 0-0, the game would have been tied after the fourth quarter.
“We played almost even with them in the third quarter and that made us back in the game for the fourth quarter,” Hofmeijer said.
Hofmeijer said the defense was not at peak performance in the second quarter and that the blame needs to be shared.
“For me I need to work on my defense and don’t give away both sides too quickly so we can put on more pressure and make them tired, which will make us more successful on offense as well,” Hofmeijer said.
Although SJSU had struggles, head coach Watson said that there were plenty of standout performances on the team including from sophomore goalkeeper Yahav Fire.
“Our goalie played really well and kept us in the game and allowed us to come back,” Watson said.
Fire finished the game with a total of 13 saves, keeping the Pacific in check despite the offensive pressure they had all game.
The upcoming games will not be easier for the Spartans with conference play matches starting Friday in Malibu against No. 8 Cal State Long Beach.
Driver Justin Pickering said that to succeed in conference play, SJSU needs to be more balanced in its performances.
“We can’t put ourselves in a hole because in a conference game that’s going to be a whole lot harder to dig ourselves out of,” Pickering said.
