Tonight v. SLUH

Tonight, the Red Devils face-off against the top-ranked SLUH Jr. Bills. JV will begin at 6PM and varsity will follow at 7PM. These are the correct times (I posted the wrong times initially) and if there is ever any confusion about game times, please check http://mowaterpolo.com/, as that site always has the most updated schedule.

SLUH has been a dominant force for the last three seasons, and their undefeated record stretches back to when water polo was still in the fall. The Red Devils encountered the Jr. Bills three times last year and I thought our performance against them improved each time. We also had the best success against SLUH of any team last year because of our abilities on the defensive end.

In the spirit of March Madness beginning today (a national holiday in my eyes) and to get under the skin of SLUH JV coach John Penilla, I called former Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps to get his three keys to the game tonight for Chaminade. Here there are, without the matching tie and highlighter:

1. Accurate passing while under pressure: good passes will lead to open drives and 6-on-5 opportunities
2. Entwistle, Duncan and more Entwistle: Jake and Chris need to be perfect guarding the hole and can't get kicked out
3. Solid goaltending from Junior Chris Lauber: Chris has been working hard on long passing this week which will help stimulate the Red Devil counter-attack

Digger makes some good points, but I think the critical matchup tonight is how our defensive stalwarts, led by Jake Entwistle, Chris Duncan and Captain Danny Faust, handle the SLUH 2-meters John Heafner, Will Page and Steve Sigman. Jake and Chris, in particular, played brilliantly against Kirkwood and will have to again carry a large load tonight. If we can keep those three Jr. Bills off the board, we will find ourselves in this game to the very end.

Starters for varsity:
#1 Chris Lauber
#2 Chris Watkins (c)
#4 Jack Meara (c)
#5 Kevin Glauber
#6 Peter Hoette
#8 Danny Faust (c)
#9 Jake Entwistle