Colleges column: Anteaters struggle to stay afloat

Amara Aguilar

Although the UC Irvine men’s water polo team has sunk toward the

bottom of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings, a few players

are rising to the top of their game.

Chris Kirchwehm had three goals in the Anteaters’ 14-6 loss to UCLA

Saturday. Kirchwehm leads the Anteaters (5-12, 1-7 in the MPSF) in

scoring with 33 goals.

“(Kirchwehm) is the best overall player on the team,” UCI Coach Ted

Newland said. “He’s a good team leader, plays good defense and scores a

lot of goals. He’s been forced to shoot because we don’t have a lot of

shooters.”

In addition to Kirchwehm, Newland praised the play of John Dorfi, who

had two goals against UCLA. Kirchwehm and Dorfi are seniors with plenty

of experience who are trying to lead a young team.

The Anteaters got off to a slow start with a 12-2 loss to UCLA on

Sept. 8. After that, the team did not play until Sept. 22.

“We lost five games because we couldn’t travel because of what

happened in New York (on Sept. 11),” Newland said. “We are really young

and needed all the games we could get. There is only so much in practice

we can do. We needed game experience.”

The Anteaters have five freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and three

seniors.

All the players are from California, except one. The list of hometowns

on the UCI roster include Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Santa Ana,

Fountain Valley and San Clemente.

Then comes the one that sticks out: Eugene, Ore.

Dreason Barry, a 6-foot-8 freshman, is the tallest player on the team

and the only one who is not a California native. He weighs 205 pounds and

is still growing physically and developing as a water polo player,

Newland said.

“They don’t play much water polo in Oregon,” Newland said. “(Barry)

just came down and talked to me and I recruited him. He’s a really big

kid and he’s really fast and a really good athlete. He’s doing really

well.”

The Anteaters have one game left in the regular season. They will face

UC Santa Barbara in a nonconference home game Saturday at noon.

The UCI men’s basketball team, ranked first by coaches and media in

the Big West Conference preseason polls, will begin the regular season

with a home game against St. Mary’s Friday at 7 p.m.

The team won its first two exhibition games. The Anteaters defeated

Korabel (Ukraine), 87-55, on Nov. 4 and earned an 81-56 victory over Cal

State Bakersfield Saturday.

The Vanguard University women’s volleyball team (6-25, 2-18) ended its

season with a loss to Fresno Pacific University Saturday. Senior Megan

Godfrey had a team-high 15 kills. She also led the team in digs with 16.

Godfrey ends her four-year career with 1,478 kills and 1,420 digs.

Both are school records. Seniors Carly Birkhauser, Jeslin Olson and Becki

Huddle also ended their volleyball careers with the Lions.

Senior Kelly Boeke broke a women’s basketball school record in

Vanguard’s season opener against Cal State Monterey Bay Friday.

Boeke scored 11 points in the game to give her 1,238 career points,

enough to break the mark set by Elaine Whittemore (1,235).

Baseball season isn’t here yet, but Vanguard University is busy

preparing for it. VU Coach Kevin Kasper added two players to the Lions’

roster last week. Sean Moglia and Jason Searle have signed letters of

intent to play for Vanguard.

Moglia, a second baseman, comes to Vanguard from North Idaho College.

He had a .959 fielding average at NIC and was the college’s Male Academic

Athlete of the Year. The junior transfer attended Lake City High where he

was the team MVP and a three-time all-league player.

Searle graduated from Novato High in California in June. The incoming

freshman is a right-handed pitcher and utility player who broke seven

career records in baseball at Novato. He was a four-time all-league

player and was selected team MVP three times.