By Peter Keiper-White
Sports Editor

Fighting a depleted roster and teams from across the nation, Wesleyan’s water polo club team performed admirably to take home the first-place plaque from the National Division III Club tournament held at Bowdoin this weekend.

Wesleyan beat teams from Rochester University (Minn.), Lycoming University (Penn.), Bates College, Macalaster College (Minn.), Bowdoin College and Grinell College (Iowa).

"We played very well," said Don Kim ’01, the MVP of the tournament. "It’s hard to gauge ability on a national scale but we were happy with the way we played."

Dan Fisher ’01, the Wesleyan netminder, was also honored as the goal keeper for the all-tournament team.

The tournament invited the top three teams from NCAA Division III schools in each region to participate.

Wesleyan did not finish in the top three in New England last season but because other teams declined an invitation to participate, the Cardinals found themselves with an opportunity to perform on a national stage.

The team was without seven of its 20 players including co-captain Zeke Rauscher ’01 and Abbott Willard ’02.

The seven teams in the tournament were divided into two pools. Wesleyan was in a pool with Grinell, Lycoming and Bates. The other pool was comprised of Bowdoin, Rochester and Macalaster.

Wesleyan blanked Grinell 26-0 in its first match of the tournament.

Lycoming couldn’t do much better as the Cardinals rolled to a 31-6 victory.

Bates and Wesleyan were both 2-0 heading into their meeting.

The winner would represent pool A in the finals against Rochester. Wesleyan controlled the whole match but had to fend off a Bates surge in the third quarter.

"Bates started to make a run and really turn it up," said Aaron Rosenberg ’01. "We were able to shut them down and they never challenged us again in the match."

The Cardinals easily advanced with a 15-5 triumph.

Rochester was the closest match of the tournament and the Cardinals needed every point they got to come away with an 11-8 victory. The Cardinals held a slim 10-8 lead with time running out in the fourth quarter. Wesleyan had a man advantage but a two-point goal by Rochester could have sent the game into overtime. Wesleyan didn’t panic and put the game away with an easy score.

"A slight breakdown in our defense cost us, and they were cherry-picking well," Rosenberg said. "Offensively, we weren’t as focused as we had been in our previous matches."

"I think we played very well, we should have beaten Rochester by more then we did though," Fisher said. "They didn’t play textbook water polo so it was tough to defend."