Harvard-Westlake Loses to Loyola in Water Polo

Surpassing expectations was enough to please the Harvard-Westlake boys' water polo team, but it wasn't enough to beat Loyola.

The host Cubs, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division I, defeated Harvard-Westlake 9-6 in Tuesday's showdown between the Mission League's top teams.

"They're No. 1 for a reason and they showed it," said Harvard-Westlake's Alec Zwaneveld, who led the No. 7 Wolverines with three goals.

"We can't be disappointed. We were not expecting the game to be this close. They're a great team with great shooters. To be within three goals, that's an improvement on what we were expecting. Other losses have hurt more."

The Cubs are aiming for a third consecutive undefeated league title and are the league's only team to beat Harvard-Westlake in the pool (Crespi won this season's league opener by forfeit) since the Wolverines won their last title in 2007.

Zwaneveld gave Harvard-Westlake (7-4, 1-2) the early lead this time, scoring on a man-up advantage with 5:40 left in the first quarter. He added another goal with 1:52 remaining in the period for a 2-2 tie at the end of the opening quarter.
Loyola led 5-3 at halftime.

"Our goal was to keep it tied at the half –if not be ahead—and put pressure on them," Harvard-Westlake coach Robert Lynn said. "There's more pressure on them. They're the champs. They're No. 1, they're supposed to win. We have nothing to lose. We made three mistakes due to our youth that hurt us, but overall I'm pleased.

"We can grow from this and give them a tighter game next time. . . .This was our best result so far against a team like this. I think we gained a lot of confidence in this game. They saw they can play with this team. If they can compete with them, they can compete with anyone."

Loyola began to pull away with back-to-back goals by Matthew Schwartz and Trenton Ross early in the second quarter. Julian Casillas put the Wolverines within one at 4-3 on a score with 4:51 left in the quarter but that was as close as the Wolverines would get the rest of the day.

Casillas finished with two goals. Teammate Kayj Shannon added a fourth-quarter score. Zwaneveld tied as the game's scoring leader after he was credited with the goal on a Cub's own-goal in the third quarter.

Harvard-Westlake goalie Tyler Greeno made eight saves, including four in a busy first quarter.

Schwatrz led Loyola with three goals. Clayton Evans made 12 saves for the Cubs.
The teams meet again Oct. 27 at Harvard-Westlake.

"You always like to play Loyola," Zwaneveld said. "This is the game—except maybe the CIF championship—that you really look forward to and want to win. They're the better team—for now."