The Carleton Ravens men’s water polo team defeated the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 7-6, to win the gold medal at the 2013 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s water polo championships Nov. 29-Dec. 1.
The Ravens went undefeated in the round-robin, beating the McMaster University Marauders in their first game 13-2, then going on to beat the York University Lions 16-7, and finally beating the Western University Mustangs 8-3.
“We were losing to Western at the half, but we went on to beat them. It was definitely nice to have a closer game right before the final so were we set mentally,” Ravens captain Cole Wagner said.
The Ravens then went on to defeat the host team, the Varsity Blues, in the gold medal game.
“We expect to compete every year so coming into this year our goal from day one was to make it to the gold medal game,” head coach Zoltan Csepregi said.
The Ravens are especially proud of their victory this year since they lost out to the Varsity Blues in the gold medal game last season.
“It was nice to be able to play them in their territory, in front of their home crowd, and make them feel the same way we did last year when they took the championship from us, so I think all the guys were really motivated before the game,” Wagner said.
The Ravens attribute their strong performance in the pool to the amount of effort they put into their training.
“We train six times a week and that makes a huge difference against teams who don’t have the same amount of pool time as us,” Wagner said. “There may be teams that can compete with us skill wise, but when it gets to the third or fourth quarter, they just don’t have the cardio that we have.”
Wagner, who is graduating this year, said he is extremely proud of his teammates.
“You can’t really ask for a better finish . . . you know that this could potentially be the last game of your playing career and to go out with a gold, with a bunch of guys you’ve been playing with for the last four years is huge,” he said.
Moving forward, Csepregi said the Ravens will have to compensate for the loss of some strong upper-year players.
“The biggest loss will be in terms of leadership . . . a lot of the guys leaving this year have a lot of respect in the dressing room,” Csepregi said. “The guys that played this year have gotten to experience a championship and what it takes to win and I think there will be players who will be able to step up next year and fill in that leadership role.”
The team is aware of the leadership roles that need to be filled heading into next season, but right now they are more focused on their rewarding effort this weekend.
“Our guys reacted to the challenge, they really stepped up and they played well all weekend, and I couldn’t be happier with their performance,” Csepregi said.
