Official Site of Michigan State University Men's Water Polo

9/15/2009

Spartans Stumble in Season's 2nd Tourny

With preseason's toll setting in, the Spartans headed to Purdue September 12–13 with a limited roster due to illness and injury. Despite optimistic attitudes the Spartans found themselves in a 3-1 hole after 2 quarters with the Michigan Wolverines. A never-say-die attitude, a sound performance by captain Ben Shantz in net, and key goals by Eddie Rogers and Chase Plank brought the margin to one, but time elapsed before the Spartans could complete their comeback and the Wolverines walked away with a 4-3 win—their first victory over the Spartans since 2005.

The Spartans showed great resolve by rebounding and winning the next two games of the day handily: 18-3 over Wisconsin and 9-3 over Iowa. The Spartans showed their depth in these games, subbing freely and receiving excellent contributions from their second string. Senior Jack Oliver and freshman Andrew Leonard lead the scoring attack with 4 and 3 goals respectively.

Sunday morning MSU found itself lined up against the same Illinois team they defeated 8 days earlier. MSU took the lead early and led 4-1 after the first quarter. However, after a pair of questionable ejections, defensive anchor Nick Talaski found himself ejected from the game just before halftime. With Talaski out, and an injury-ridden and already depleted roster, the Illini roared back into the game. Chase Plank scored two timely second half goals to keep the Spartans in the lead, but the Illini tied the game up 9-9 at the end of regulation. Chase was called for his third ejection of the match at the start of overtime and the Illini seized a two goal lead. Andrew Weichmann stepped up and led the Spartans to tie it again at 11-11 after two periods of overtime. Despite efforts by Weichmann and Rogers and an excellent defensive game by freshman Matt Graziano, the fighting Illini scored the first goal of sudden death overtime on a backhand that barely squeaked by keeper Shantz. The Illini handed the Spartans their second defeat of the weekend, 12-11 OT. Season record 6-3-0.