Posted: August 26, 2015 | Written by: Laura Tapia
The Riverside City College Men and Women’s water polo teams are out early and late afternoons in the Aquatics Complex, preparing for the new season ahead.
Women’s water polo head coach Doug Finfrock was awarded co-coach of the year with Tom Craft, the football head coach, in 2014.
The women’s water polo team made it to the State Finals last year losing to Fullerton by one point in triple overtime.
Finfrock and his team had a 27-6 overall record winning all five home games.
Not winning the State Championship last year is something he still holds on to.
“I will trade all the coach of the years for a state championship right now,” Finfrock said.
This year the women’s water polo roster is full of incoming freshman.
Only six women from the 2014 team are on this years roster. One of them is Sophomore goalkeeper Kayla Chang who had 13 saves in the CCCAA Southern regional game against Fullerton.
Another returning sophomore is Kristen Zamora who had seven steals, five assists and two goals during her last year at Martin Luther King High School.
Although his team is heavy on the freshman side Finfrock takes this as a good thing noting that sometimes having stand out players can hurt the team.
Out of 27 women only 19 will travel with the team for road games leaving Finfrock to decide who will be at those road games, as of now he has not made that decision.
Finfrock notes that this years expectation is “to win” and “stand out as a team.”
The women’s team isn’t alone in their hopes for a championship this season.
Jason Northcott, the Men’s water polo head coach expects his team to be tough to contend with because of their depth.
“We are going to go pretty deep, especially to start the season because we are deep, we got some size, and we got some speed,” Northcott said.
The depth of the team begins with Sophomore captains Justin Rohn and Trevor Tripp.
Rohn made the 2014 All-American second team.
Adding to the depth of the team is freshman facilitator Jacob Weisenberg and utility Kyle Christian.
Kyle Christian had 305 points, 157 goals, 148 assists and 114 steals in his three years playing at King High School.
The women’s water polo team season opener will be Sep. 11-12 at American River College and the men’s season opener will be Sept. 4 at Riverside followed by Sept. 10 at American River College.
