The men’s water polo team continues to encounter rough challenges this season as it remains winless in Big 8 Conference competition.
The Mustangs (5-16) currently find themselves in last place of the Big 8 with a conference record of 0-5 following two losses to American River College with a score of 11-8 on Oct. 13. and Modesto Junior College with a score of 16-9 on Oct. 20.
While the team has been unable to get good results throughout the season, its performance in the pool is the least of its problems as the roster has been cut short due to injuries, putting a large workload on those who are able to play.
“More importantly than anything else is just getting here. We have a guy in Hawaii, we have an injured guy right now so we only have one sub. It’s really stressful on the guys that are here.” head coach Mike Maroney said. “We haven’t been able to train in full force in 10 days so that has a little bit of a negative effect on us, but the guys are fighting. They’re doing some things well and some things that are just frustrating because more than anything else they’re just tired.”
Apart from players out of action due to injuries, men’s water polo is among the teams hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as it forced some players to leave Delta.
Unlike other teams in Delta’s athletics program, several players on the men’s water polo team (both freshmen and sophomores) decided not to stay for an additional season as some committed to four-year colleges and others went elsewhere due to Delta not guaranteeing in-person classes earlier this year.
“A lot of our three-year guys didn’t stick around. They got opportunities to go to four-year schools, and then some of our freshmen didn’t stick around for their sophomore year either,” said Maroney.
In terms of performance, Maroney has seen good things from his players despite not picking up the results they had hoped for during the season.
“We’ve won the majority of periods that we’ve played. It’s just putting all four together that’s a little bit difficult for us right now. But our guys are getting in game shape right now because they don’t have subs. They’re playing the entire game, no other team is doing that,” said Maroney.
Goalie Jonathan Horton thinks this group of players is capable of putting together a competitive team, but the lack of depth on the roster has made the season challenging.
“I think the main thing is really numbers [players]. We play better in some games but we don’t have the numbers. We find that going into the end of the game we can’t compete because we’re all exhausted. It takes seven people to play and right now we only have nine because of some injuries. Really a full team should be 14 people so we are really lacking the numbers, which really is a problem,” said Horton.
Horton also pointed out the team needs to communicate better in order to be more competitive.
“It really shows we are lacking communication. If we can play as a team we’ll do better, some games we don’t communicate [as much],” said Horton.
The Mustangs will return to action on Oct. 29 when they face Merced College in a non-conference matchup before they begin participation in the Big 8 Conference tournament at Diablo Valley College, which is scheduled to take place in less than two weeks on Nov. 8.